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BIDWELL'S     TRAVELS. 


ipisoim: 


Wall  Street 
To  London  Prison 


Fifteen  Years  in  Solitude. 


FREED  A  HUMAN  WRECK,  A    WONDERFUL,    SURVIVAL,   AND   A    MORE 

WONDERFUI^  RISE   IN  THE  WORLD. 
TO-DAY  HE  HAS  A  NATIONAL  REPUTATION  AS  A  WRITER.   SPEAKER- 

AND   IS    CONSIDERED   AN  AUTHORITY  ON  ALL,  SOCIAL  PROBLEMS. 
HE  WAS  TRIED  AT   THE   OLD  BAILEY     AND     SENTENCED     FOR     LIFE. 
CHARGED  WITH  THE  £1,000,000  FORGERY  ON  THE  BANK 
OF    ENGLAND. 
THIS   STORY   SHOWS   THAT  THE   EV^ENTS   OF   HIS  LIFE   SURPASS   THE 
IMAGINATIONS     OF     OUR   FAMOUS   NOVELISTS,    ITS   THRILLING 
SCENES,     HAIR-BREAUTH   ESCAPES  AND  MARVELOUS  AD- 
VENTURES   ARE   NOT   A   RECORD   OF   CRIME, 
BUT  ARE  PROOFS  OF  THAT 


IN  THE   WORLD    OF  WRONQDOJNQ  SUCCESS  IS  FAILURE 


490    Pages,    80   Graphic   Illustrations. 


Copyrighted  1897  by 

BIDWELL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

HARTFORD,    CONN. 


*> 


Mr.  Lowell  desired  to  have  Mr.  Bidwell  address  the  Har- 
vard students. 

.CLMWOOO. 

CAMBRIDGE.      /^/^J    f^^^C^C^'    /^£^ 


i  other  side  f       y^  //V^^^i:^     ui/y-/' 


SURPASSING  FICTION,  THEY  WRITE. 
Editorial  New  York  Herald. 

Referriag  to  a  Whole  Page, 

"If  an  American  dramatist  or  novelist  had  taken  for  the  ground 
work  of  a  play  or  work  of  fiction  the  story  of  the  Bidwell  family  to- 
day related  on  another  page  of  the  Herald,  all  European  critics  would 
have  told  him  that  the  story  was  too  'American,'  too  vast  in  its  out- 
lines, too  high  in  its  colors,  too  merely  'big'  in  fact. 

"The  story  has  its  lesson.  The  play  is  not  a  mere  spectacle.  The 
lesson  is  that  in  the  doing  and  undoing  of  wrong  the  Bidwell  family 
expended  enough  ability  and  energy  to  stock  a  good  many  reigning 
European  families  for  generations. 

"Let  the  Comedie  Humaine  write  itself  and  it  will  outwrite 
Balzac." 

Hon.  Lyman  J.  Gage. 

Having  read  the  Bidwell  book  I  believe  it  will  benefit  every  one  to 
read  this  marvellous  history  of  human  experience. 

Aside  from  its  dramatic  interest  there  are  great  moral  lessons  in- 
volved of  especial  value  to  young  men  and  employes  in  positions  of 
trust. 

Therefore,  I  recommend  this  book  as  unique  and  a  valuable  ac- 
quisition for  home  and  office. 

From  Chas.  1*1.  Stead,  Union  League  Club,  New  York. 

''Dear  Sir — I  read  your  book  with  a  good  deal  of  interest,  and 
would  like  to  change  it  for  a  higher-priced  binding  if  you  have  one. 

The  Worcester  Spy. 

"Mr,  Bidwell's  book  has  been  compared  with  Dumas*  famous 
'Monte  Christo.'  The  extraordinary  character  of  its  adventures,  in- 
deed, would  render  it  dramatic  and  powerful  as  fiction  ;  as  human 
truth,  it  is  simply  overwhelming.  No  one  can  read  this  book  un- 
moved. From  every  conceivable  standpoint,  physiological,  sociolog- 
ical, and  literary,  it  is  a  marvel." 

Philip  W.  floen. 

Mr.  Moen,  of  Washburn  &  Moen,  Worcester,  Mass.,  writes:  "I 
have  read  Mr.  George  Bidwell's  book  with  the  deepest  interest.  It 
is  a  book  that  deserves  to  be  widely  read,  and  I  am  very  glad  to  rec- 
ommend it." 


UNEXCEPTIONAL  MORAL  TONE. 


A  Niece  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 

writes  :  "Few  books  have  so  stirred  my  mind  for  years  as  the  book 
by  George  Bidwell.  Hearing  of  the  book,  prejudice  immediately 
seized  me  against  it.  The  history  given  by  himself,  to  be  interesting 
at  all  must  be  sensational,  therefore  disastrous  to  morals.  So  avowed 
prejudiced  thought ;  and,  determined  to  find  fault,  I  began  this 
remarkable  history.     It  is  impossible  to  find  fault  with  the  book, 

WHICH  IS  VALUABLE  AND  WONDERFULLY  ABSORBING." 

From  Ira  D.  Sankey,  Esq. 

*'Mr.  George  Bidwell,  Dear  Sir — I  have  read  with  great  interest 
your  book,  and  believe  it  will  do  much  good  among  young  men 
wherever  read.  Your  life  is  a  proof  and  your  book  a  burning  record 
of  the  truth  that  'Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.' 
I  believe  in  throwing  light  into  all  the  dark  places  of  this  life,  that 
men,  seeing  the  dangers,  they  may  avoid  them.  I  wish  you  success." 

From  Hon.  Robert  G.  Ingersoll. 

"George  Bidwell,  Esq.: 

My  Dear  Sir — Knowing  as  I  do  that  you  will  tell  a  candid  story 
of  your  career,  I  believe  you  will  do  good.  Crime  springs  mostly 
from  a  lack  of  intelligence  and  imagination.  Only  the  foolish  can 
think  that  the  practice  of  vice  is  the  road  to  joy.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  wrong  does  not  pay.  You  have,  in  your  remarkable  book, 
made  this  fact  perfectly  clear,  and  you  will  enforce  this  great  truth  on 
the  platform.  In  the  world  of  crime  success  is  failure.  Good 
luck  to  you." 

Rev.  Dr.  Edward  Beecher 

writes  ;    "I  recommend  this  book  to  the  friends  of  morality." 

Office  of  Street's  Insurance  Agency,  Hartford,   Conn. 

"Mr.  George  Bidwell,  Dear  Sir — A  clergyman  consulted  with 
me  regarding  his  son,  who  had  fallen  into  bad  associations,  taken 
part  in  many  small  thefts,  and  seemed  hardened  against  shame  or 
dread  of  exposure.  I  believe  the  mean,  dangerous  boy  has  become  a 
man  by  reading  your  book."     Yours  very  truly, 

F.  F.  Street,  Hartford,  Conn. 

Hartford  Daily  Times. 

"This  autobiography  is  a  story  of  thrilling  interest." 


CONTENTS. 


A  NEW  YORK  HERALD  EDITORIALi. 

PROLOGUE. 
A  Message  of  Hope  Scratched  on  the  Wall— Nil  Desperandum. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Brooklyn  Public  Schools  in  the  Sixties— Old  No.  13— Parents  Suited 
to  the  Golden  Age— A  Curious  Preparation  for  the  Battle  of 
Life— Knew  that  Brutus  Slew  Caesar — George  the  Third  Was  a 
Bad  Fellow  Who  Got  a  Tea  Kettle  Thrown  at  His  Head  in 
Boston  Harbor — My  Model  Home  Library — An  Innocent  Leaves 
Home 19 

CHAPTER  II. 
In  a  Broker's  Office — A  Nice  Old  Gentleman — Situation  In  Wall 
Street — An  Up-to-Date  Young  Man — Visions  of  Wealth — Spec- 
ulations— Wall  Street  in  the  Sixties — The  Hon.  John  Morrissey, 
ex-Pugilist — His  Famous  Gambling  House — I  Try  a  Game  of 
Faro — Midnight  Banquets — I  Have  Entered  the  Primrose 
Way.       ...  24 

CHAPTER  III. 
Pleasure  Before  Business — Result  of  That  Method — On  Financial 
Rocks — James,  Otherwise  "Jimmy,"  Irving — He  Was  a  Model 
Chief  of  Detectives — Police  Headquarters,  300  Mulberry  Street, 
in  the  Early  Seventies — He  Takes  Me  for  a  Drive  out  Harlem 
Lane — A  Trio  of  Detectives — They  Make  a  Startling  Proposition 
—A  $10,000  Temptation— Mental  Conflicts— I  Dare  Not  Be  Poor 

— C'est  le  Premier  Pas  Qui  Coute 28 

(ix) 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 
History  of  the  Famous  Lord  Bond  Steal— "On  the  Office"-^hree 
Sneaks  Stumble  on  a  Fortune— A  $1,250,000  Tin  Box— Dazed 
Crooks— What  to  Do  with  Their  White  Elephant— Excitement 
at  Police  Headquarters — Bullard  et  al. — A  Violin  Virtuoso — 
Superintendent  of  Police  Kelso  Presents  a  $500  Silver  Punch 
Bowl  to  the  Daughter  of  Boss  Tweed — Paid  For  with  Stolen 

Cash 36 

CHAPTER  V. 
Police  Protectors — New  York  Gangs — Irving  &  Co.  Give  Me  $80,000 
Lord  Bonds  to  Sell  Abroad — A  Midnight  Farewell — Alone  on 
the  Sea— When  Jim  Fisk  Owned  Our  Judges— Chief  Irving 
Plans  a  Famous  Bank  Robbery— His  Three  Burglar  Confed- 
erates.   48 

CHAPTER  VI.      , 
The  Bank  Looted— Irving  Notiiied  by  Bank  Officials— His  Feigned 
Surprise — Hunts  the  Burglars,  but  Divides  the  Plunder  at  His 
Own  House — Count  Shinburne  and  His  Palace  on  the  Rhine — 

Twenty  Years  Later 58 

CHAPTER  VII. 
I  Arrive  in  Paris — Field  of  Waterloo — Meet  the  Antwerp  Chief  of 
Police— He  Is  on  Trail— A  Dutch  Van  Tromp  and  the  Countess 
Winzerode — His  Dream  of  Bliss  and  Tragic  Death — My  Negotia- 
tions in  Frankfurt-on-the-Main 65 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Marpurgo  &  Welsweiler.  Bankers — Francoise  Blanc,  the  Gambler 
Kins:— ^His  Casinos  at  Monte  Carlo,  Homburg  and  Wiesbaden — 
I  Meet  Van  Tromp's  Countess — Outlived  Her  Beauty — Now  a 
Hanger-on  at  the  Rouge  et  Noir  Tables — Takes  My  Advice — 
Marries   a   Rich   Burgher — Becomes   a   Good   Stepmother — Her 

Pious   End   and  Epitaph 73 

CHAPTER  IX. 

I  Sell  the  $80,000  Bonds— Reach  London  Safely— Drifting— Success 
in  Crime  a  Failure — A  Desolate  Woman — Beautiful  Barmaid 
Show — Westminster  Abbey — Good  Resolutions— Sail  Home — 
Irvine  at  the  Wharf— Meet  at  Taylor's  Hotel— The  Total:  "I 
Have  Another  Job  for  You" — A  Fool's  Game,  .         .        84 

CHAPTER  X. 
Edwin  James,  Q.  C,  and  a  Possible  Lord  Chancellor  of  England — 
His  Extravagance — On  the  Border  Land  of  Crime — He  Over- 
steps— Disbarred — Comes  to  New  York — Richard  O'Gorman's 
Great  Heart— The  Brea  Will  Case— A  Dark  Plot— $20,000  out  of 
Wall  Street— Jay  Cooke  &  Co.  Narrowly  Escape  Loss  of  $240,000 
— Chief  Irving  in  the  Plot — Detective  George  Elder  Not  in  Our 
Ring — Accidentally  He  Appears  and  Thwarts  Our  Plans,        94 


CONTENTS.  Xl 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Eastward  Ho! — The  James  and  Brea  Exit — Ezra,  the  Shrewd  Law- 
yer— Three  Unhappy  Daughters — He  Marries  One — Detects 
Forged  Will— Flight  of  Brea  to  Montana— A  Sunrise  Surprise 
at   Butte   City— James    Returns    to   London — Fills   a    Pauper's 

Grave  Instead  of  a  Lord  Chancellor's 114 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Bordeaux.  Marseilles  and  Lyons  "Donate"  $50,000— A  Bad  Quarter 
of  an  Hour — Eggs  and  Peasant  Women — "Sweets  to  the  Sweet" 
—A  Mysterious  Stranger  Disappears  Among  the  Tombs.  123 
CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  Starry  Talk — Contrast  Between  Mac's  Philosophy  and  His  Er- 
rand— A  Financial  Trip  Through  Germany — ^From  Leipsic  Fair 
to  London — Return  Loaded  with  Thalers,  .  .  .  132 
CHAPTER  XIV. 

A  Drive  to  Hampton  Court— Send  $10,000  Police  Tribute  to  New 
York — Discussing  the  Bank  of  England  in  the  Throne  Room 
at  Windsor  Castle — Believe  It  to  Be  a  Fossil  Institution — 
Greene,   the  Tailor — Introduces  Me    to    Bank — No  References 

Required — Joy  That  Ends  in  Sorrow 142 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Voyage  to  Rio  Janeiro — The  Lady  of  the  Lucitania — ^A  Swedish 
Colonel's  Party  of  English  Engineers — A  Bibulous  Chaplain — 
Modern  Buccaneers — Scenes  at  Bordeaux — Crossing  the  Line — 
Father  Neptune's  Visit — Fun  at  Sea — ^Arrival  in  Rio — Maua  & 

Co.— Our  Plans, 154 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Fifty  Thousand  Dollars  on  Bogus  Letters  of  Credit — Visit  to  a 
Coffee  Plantation — Slaves  Dining — Dangerous  Errors  in  Letters 
of  Credit — A  Nervous  Day — An  Eagle-Eyed  Hebrew — "Show 
Me  Tour  Letter  of  Credit" — Mac  in  a  Corner — A  Bold  Coup — 
Strategy— Can  We  Get  Out  of  Brazil?  ....  160 
CHAPTER  XVIL 

Brazilian  Law — Visit  Police  Headquarters — A  Douceur  to  the  Chief 
— In  a  Tight  Spot — A  "Doctored"  Passport — A  Detective  on 
Trail,  Who  Ingratiates  Himself  into  Mac's  Confidence — Ma- 
noeuvres— The  Detective  on  a  "Wild  Goose  Chase" — Safely  on 
Board— A  Distinguished  Party  in  a  Rowboat— A  Stern  Chase- 
Off  at  Last, 173 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Rio  to  Buenos  Ayres — Return  and  Meet  Mac  in  Paris — Determine 
to  Abandon  a  Dangerous  Business — ^Vienna — Watching  the 
Game — Must  Have  More  Money — Good  Resolutions  Vanish — 
Return  to  London— Determine  to  Assault  the  Bank  of  England 
—Deposit  $67.000 186 


Xil  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 
Bank  of  England  Requires  No  References — Letter  from  Paris — 
A  Gilded  American  Young  Man — Duped  into  Marriage  with  a 
Parisienne  Miindaine — A  Ghost  at  Monte  Carlo — In  a  Green- 
wood Mausoleum — Earthly  Happiness  and  the  "World  to 
Come 193 

CHAPTER  XX. 

A  Council  of  War — Description  of  Bills  of  Exchange — Frederick 

Albert    Warren,    the    Great    American    Railway    Contractor — 

The  Great  Bank  Proves  Fallible — Discounts  Bogus  Bills  of  Ex- 

chanere 200 

CHAPTER  XXI. 
Draw  Fabulous  Sums — Bags  of  Sovereigns  by  the  Cab  Load — In  a 
French   Railway  Wreck — Baron  Alfonso   de  Rothschild,   Head 
of  the  Paris   House— A  Famous  £6,000  Draft,        .         .        206 

CHAPTER  XXII. 
Last  Call  at  the  Bank  of  England — Noyes  Arrives  in  London — An 
Artful  Plot — Introduce  Noyes — Plan  Now  Complete — Our  Wise 
Forefathers — No    Change    in    a    Century — Our    Paper    Is    Dis- 
counted—Prepare for  Flight— Thou  Shalt  Not,        .         .        214 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
Fifty  Thousand  Dollars  a  Day — The  Golden  Shower  Continues  to 
Fall — Operations  Shrouded  in  Midnight  Darkness — No  Possi- 
bility of  Discovery — Finish  and  Begin  Again — Amazing  Over- 
sight— Pitcher  Goes  Once  Too  Often — Noyes  Arrested — Un- 
Daxalleled  Excitement  on  the  Stock  Exchange,        .        .        224 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Consternation — A  Mob  of  Bankers— The  Financial  World  Shaken — 

Noyes  Taken   to  Newgate — Mac  Cables  Irving — His  Flight  to 

France — Sails   from   Havre  on   Board   Thuringia — ^Arrested   at 

Quarantine — The   Pinkertons  on  Trail,      ....        236 

CHAPTER  XXV. 
Hunted  Through  Ireland — $2,500  Reward  for  My  Capture — Detec- 
tives "Spot"  Me  at  the  Cork  Railway  Station — Obliged  to 
Abandon  Taking  Passage  by  the  Ill-Fated  Atlantic — ^A  Game 
of  "Hare  and  Hounds" — Eluding  a  Detective  "Trap" — English 
Misrule  in  Ireland — Am  Taken  for  a  Priest — A  Typographical 
Thunderbolt  at  Lismore — ^An  Early  Morning  Walk — A  Ride  on 
an  Irish  Jaunting  Car — "On  the  Road  to  Clonmel" — Shelter  in 
a  "Phebeen" — How  Thirsty  Souls  Get  the  "Craythur"  in  Ire- 
land—A Good  Old  Irish  Lady— Pursuit  and  Refuge  in  a  Ruined 
Cottage  at  Cahir, 248 


CONTENTS.  xiU 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

An  Unceremonious  Call — "I  am  a  Fenian  Leader" — A  "Story"  Told 
in  the  Dark — Maloy  Helps  My  Escape  on  an  Irish  Jaunting 
Car — Eggs — A  Policeman  Anxious  to  Obtain  the  Five  Hundred 
Pounds  Reward — Dublin  Again — A  Jewess'  Blessing — I  Turn 
Russian,  and  Later  Become  a  Frenchman — Belfast  Detectives 
— Escape  into  Scotland — The  Other  Side  of  the  Story — A  Bow 
Street  Detective's  Adventures  While  Hunting  Me  Through  Ire- 
land— Cross-Questioning  My  Jaunting-Car  Driver — "A  Cold 
Water  Cure" — Hot  on  the  Trail — Not  In  the  Fort — A  Fruitless 
Hunt — Many  Innocents  Arrested — Maloy  Becomes  a  "Know- 
Nothing."       261 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

A  Marriage  at  the  American  Embassy  in  Paris — Anxious  Moments 
at  Versailles — Off  for  Spain — Crossing  the  Pyrenees — Gunshots 
— Train  off  the  Track — Captured  by  Carlist  Bandits — Released 
— Through  the  Pass  on  Ox  Carts — A  Mountain  Blizzard — Camp 
in  a  Snowstorm — Mutiny — A  Morning  Dream,        .         .  275 

CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

A  Carlist  Officer— A  Picturesque  Caravan — ^Arrival  at  Burgos — 
Startling  Telegrams — Revolution  at  Madrid — The  Railway 
Seized — My  Party  in  a  Trap — Madrid  Cathedral  and  a  Bull 
Fight — A  Special  Train  Proves  a  Slow  Train — No  News  Good 
News 292 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

Arrival  in  Santander — Gloomy  Forebodings — Sail  for  Cuba— Watch 
the  Pyrenees  Sink  in  the  Sea — Two  Sisters  of  Charity,  Inno- 
cents on  a  Voyage — Circus  at  St.  Thomas — Sunset  Gun  in  Ha- 
vana— Thirty  Seconds  Change  My  Destiny,        .         .        .        301 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

Slavery  in  Cuba— Life  in  Havana— The  Million-Pound  Forgery 
Discovered— My  Opinion  Asked — Trip  to  the  Isle  of  Pines — The 
Cuban  Rebels — A  Battle  Field — A  Slave  Cook — The  Missionary 
and  the  Cannibal — Going  into  the  Interior,        .        .        .        312 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 

On  the  Caribbean— A  Motley  Cargo— Turning  Turtles  and  Shark 
Fishing — A  Dinner  Party  in  Havana  Proves  a  Surprise  Party — 
Cant.  John  Curtin  of  fhe  Pinkertons  Appears  on  the  Scene — 
Consternation  Among  the  Diners — Offer  the  Captain  $50,000  for 
Ten  Minutes'  Start— No— I  Shoot  Him— Struggle  and  Capture — 
Iq   the    Arsenal.  ..,..,,.       327 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 
Friendly  Spanish  OfRcials — Plots  to  Escape — Leap  for  Liberty- 
Escape  out  of  Havana — Travel  the  Beach  Nights — Refuge  in 
the  Jungle  Days — Construct  a  Raft — Food  and  Water  Gone, 
but  Pluck  at  the  Fore — I  Will  Join  the  Rebels  and  Win  Mili- 
tary Laurels — Man  Proposes,  but ....        338 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
Creeping  Across  a  Bridge — Sentries  Discover  Me — They  Challenge: 
"Quien  Va?" — They  Fire — Flight  and  Escape  on  the  Raft — A 
Tropical  Night  Swim — Sharks  Everywhere — Knife  Between  My 
Teeth — Regain  the  Shore — Nearing  the  Rebel  Camp — The  Black 
Soldiers  Surprise  and  Capture  Me — I  Strike  the  Captain — He 
Dashes  at  Me  with  a  Bayonet — Stopped  by  a  Woman — Despera- 
tion.  355 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 
Back  in  Havana — Curtin's   Story — Extradited — Spain  Delivers  Me 
to  England — Pinkertons    Escort    Me    on    Board    Steamer — Ar- 
rival at  Plymouth — Newgate  at  Last — When  Time  is  Old  and 
Hath  Forgotten  Himself 372 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

Life  in  Newgate — Legal  Sharks — A  Pattern  Solicitor — ^A  Lame  De- 
fense— Before  Lord  Mayor  Waterlow — Trial  at  the  Old  Bailey 
— Thronging  Crowds — Days  of  Mental  Torture — Jury  Retires^ 

Suspense— Guilty. 383 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

A  Modern  Jeffreys— Penal  Servitude  for  Life — End  of  the  Primrose 
Way— A  Resolve— Will  Fortune  Ever  Smile  Again  ?— Newgate  to 
Chatham  Prison— A  Cocky  Little  Major— You  Were  Sent  Here 
to  Work— In  the  Mud— Night  and  Silence.        .         .        .        387 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 
Events  of  the  First  Day— Hopeless  Outlook— Lack  of  Mental  and 
Physical  Food— A  Shakespeare  Won  and  Hope  Dawns— In  the 
Infirmary— Effects  of  Prolonged  Imprisonment.        .        .       401 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
Prison   Management— Warders    Under   Military   Discipline— Their 
Long  Hours  and  Small  Pay— Their  Character  and  Antecedents 
English  Prison   System   Not  Reformatory— Turns  Out  Mur- 
derers—Prison Pets— Rats,  Mice  and  Beetles.  .        .       404 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
A  Genius— Strange  Story  of  Arthur  Heep— Unwise  Parents- 
Driven  from  Home — Temptation  and  Fall — In  a  Lunatic  Asy- 
lum—Escapes Naked  in  a  Storm— Clothes  Secured  from  a  Scare- 
crow—Rearrested— Serves  Five  Tears — To  America  and  Return 
—Again  Behind  the  Bars 417 


CONTENTS.  X9 

CHAPTER  XL. 
English  Prisons  Schools  for  Crime — Two  Prison  Aid  Societies — 
United  States  Laws  Evaded — Snug  Berths  for  Reverend  Barna- 
cles— Contributions  Go  for  Salaries — No  Benefit  to  ex-Prisoners 
—How  Discharged  Prisoners  Are  Hustled  to  the  United 
States 426 

CHAPTER  XLI. 
Rev.  Mr.  Whiteley — How  to  Stop  Influx  of  Foreign  Criminals — 
Foster  an  Example — Whiteley,  Secretary  of  Aid  Society,  Sends 
Foster  to  Sea — His  Arrival  in  Chicago — ^Meets  an  Old  Prison 
Chum — Turns  Detective — Chicago  Justices — Foster's  Story — 
Human  Tigers— A  Plot  and  $20,000— A  Letter  and  Diamond  Pin 
—In  the  Toils  Again 430 

CHAPTER  XLII. 
A  Gettysburg  Veteran — In  the  Wethersfleld,  Ct.,  State  Prison— 
— Makes  and  Conceals  a  Set  of  Burglar's  Tools — Liberated — 
Returns  and  Burglarizes  the  Prison — Boat  Load  of  Plunder- 
Captured — Sixteen  Years  More  in  Prison — Then  Goes  to  Eng- 
land— Gets  Twenty  Years — Joins  Me  at  Chatham.  .         .        436 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 
The  Fenians  at  Chatham — Dr.  Gallagher — McCarty,  O'Brien  and 
Others — We  Become  Friends — Excavating  the  Chatham  Ship 
Basin — Starvation  and  Despair — Self-Mutilation  of  an  Arm  or 
Leg  to  Reach  the  Hospital — Release  and  Death  of  McCarty — 
Gallagher  Breaks  Down — Speedy  Release  or  Death  for  Him.  443 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 
Fenian  Prisoners  in  English  Prisons — McCarthy,  O'Brien — ^A  Plan 
Miscarried — In  the  Toils — Severe    Punishments — Curtin,    Daly, 
Egan — Poor  Dr.  Gallagher 447 

CHAPTER  XLV. 
A  Dictionary  and  Life  of  the  Prophet  Jeremiah  vs.  a  Shakespeare 
— Prison  Hospital  Proves  a  Paradise — Nature's  Compensations 
— Reality  Not  So  Terrible  as   Imagined — ^Human  Nature  Un- 
changeable  453 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 
Public  Opinion  Within  Says  the  Same  as  Outside— A  Sensible  Fel- 
low— Pluck  Wins — Roses  Scarce,  Thorns  Plenty — Woe  to  Mu- 
tineers   for    "More    Bread" — Sentiment    Banished — Resistance 
Crushed— English  Judges  Are  Autocrats— No  Appeal.      .        459 

CHAPTER  XL VII. 

Hard  Lines— A  Boaster— A  Veneered  Flunkey— Billy  Treacle's  Aunt 

Dies  Again— Frederic  Barton  and  His  Vain  Petitions— I  Give 

Him  a  Pointer— His  Inherited  Fortune  Fake— Surreptitious  Mail 

Route— Warders  as  Letter  Carriers.  ..       ..       .        ♦.       4^ 


xvl  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XLVIII. 
Sixteen-Thousand-Acre  Tea  Plantation  in  India  and  Sixty  Thou- 
sand Pounds  Imaginary  Inheritance — Barton  Becomes  a  Great 
Man— The  Plot  Thickens— Letters  from  London— Smith  Dis- 
charged—Petition for  Barton— Smith  Presents  It  at  Home  Of- 
fice— Home  Secretary  Swallows  the  Bait — Barton's  Triumphant 
Release— His  Imaginary  Fortune  Does  Not  Materialize.         466 

CHAPTER  XLIX. 
Tantalizing  the  Home  Secretary— Refused  a  Letter  Sheet— Petition 
the  Home  Office  for  One — Sarcasm  About  Barton's  Release  on 
My  Sub-Rosa  Petition — Good  Conduct  Fails— Feigned  Wealth 
Wins  Freedom  for  Barton — Apropos  Quotation  from  Goethe- 
Sir  "Vernon  Harcourt  and  His  Opinion — I  Tread  Dangerous 
Ground.  471 

CHAPTER  L. 
Niblo  Clark — The  Mysterious  Three  R's — His  Characteristic  Verses 
— My  Tenth  Anniversary  at  Chatham — All  Efforts  Fail  and 
Fifteen  Years  Gone  Forever — Despairing  When  Good  News 
Comes— My  Sister  in  England — George  Freed — Hope  Returns 
and  Abides— George  Gets  James  G.  Blaine,  J.  Russell  and 
Others  to  Intercede — Fresh  Failures — Home  Secretary  Mat- 
thews Won't— George  and  My  Sister  Will— Which  Will  Wear 
the  Other  Out— George  and  Sister  Win— Night  and  Gloom  in 
My  Cell— These  Walls  Have  Frowned  on  Me  for  Twenty  Years 
— Warder's  Tramps  on  Stone  Corridor  Arouse  Me— Door  Opens 
—'You  Are  Free"- First  Sight  of  Stars  in  Twenty  Years— I 
Sht,ut,  'Twas  Like  a  Prayer:  "God  Is  Good."  478 


NOTE    TO    THE    PUBLIC. 

The  Hon.  Lyman  J.  Gage,  Dr.  Funk  and  hundreds  of  others 
have  said  that  my  book  should  be  put  at  a  price  which  would 
place  it  within  the  reach  of  every  young  man,  etc. 

Hitherto,  it  has  been  sold  by  subscription  at  $3.50.  $5  and  $10 
per  copy — the  five  editions  printed  having  been  easily  sold  at 
those  prices. 

Notwithstanding  the  thousands  of  friends  their  circulation  has 
made,  I  did  not  care  to  have  my  family  name  go  any  further  in 
this  connection  than  financial  needs  required  in  working  for  the 
release  of  the  men  still  undergoing  life  sentences  in  English 
prisons. 

At  last,  however,  certain  influence  causes  me  to  let  it  go  in 
the  revised  and  improved  form  here  presented,  and  may  it  prove 
as  valuable  and  engrossing  to  the  general  public  as  it  has  to 
20,000  subscribers  to  former  editions.  GEORGE  BIDWELL. 


CHAPTER    I. 

HAD  THERE  BEEN  WISDOM  THERE? 

We  lived  in  Sduth  Brooklyn,  near  to  old  No.  13,  the  De- 
gniw  Street  Public  School.  To  that  I  was  sent,  and  there 
got  all  the  education  I  was  ever  fated  to  have  at  any  school, 
except  the  school  of  life  and  experience. 

I  attended  for  some  years,  and  even  now  I  cannot  recall 
without  a  smile  the  absurd  incompetency  of  every  one  con- 
nected with  tli-c  institution  and  their  utter  ignorance  of  the 
art  of  imparting  knowledge  to  children. 

At  home  I  had  picked  up  that  grand  art  of  reading,  and 
went  to  school  to  learn  the  other  two  R's,  with  any  trifle 
that  I  might  come  across  floating  around  promiscuously. 

I  certainly  hope  our  much-lauded  public  schools 
are  conducted  on  better  lines  now  than  then;  if  ..ot, 
they  are  frauds  from  the  foundation.  The  instruc- 
tion in  No.  13  was  so  lax  and  radically  bad  that  the 
whole  governing  body  and  the  principal  ought  to  have 
been  sent  to  the  penitentiary  on  the  charge  of  false  pretense 
tor  drawing  their  salaries  and  giving  nothing  in  return. 
And  yet  I  remember  when  examination  day  came,  instead 
of  the  committee  investigating  the  progress  of  the  pupils, 
it  usually  turned  into  a  mere  hallelujah  chorus  upon  our 
"grand  public  school  system." 

Here  is  a  remarkable  fact:  I  seldom  missed  a  promotion 
and  passed  from  grade  to  grade  until  within  two  years  I 
found  myself  in  Junior  "A,"  the  next  to  the  highest  class  in 

z  a9) 


20  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

the  school,  just  as  ignorant  as  my  classmates,  and  that  is 
saying  much. 

It  was  all  very  pitiful.  My  blood  boils  even  now  when  I 
think  of  the  traitors  chosen  and  paid  to  see  me  fully 
equipped  and  armed  to  begin  the  battle  of  life  who  left  me 
with  phantom  weapons  which  would  shiver  into  fragments 
at  the  first  shock  of  conflict. 

I  left  Junior  A  of  old  No.  13,  with  its  algebra,  logic,  phi- 
losophy (heaven  save  the  word!)  and  advanced  grammar, 
unable  to  write  a  grammatical  sentence.  I  had  been  taught 
spelling  out  of  an  expositor — a  sort  of  pocket  dictionary 
containing  about  fifteen  hundred  words.  Most  of  these, 
with  their  definitions,  parrotlike,  I  had  learned  to  spell,  but 
never  once  in  all  my  school  experience  had  I  been  taught 
the  derivation  of  a  single  word.  Indeed,  I  took  it  for  granted 
that  in  the  good  old  days  Adam  had  invented  the  words 
much  as  he  :?amed  the  animals,  and,  of  course,  supposed 
that  he  spoke  good  English.  The  knowledge  of  history  I 
gained  at  No.  13  was  strictly  limited  and  exceedingly  primi- 
tive. I  knew  the  Jews  in  the  old  days  were  a  bad  lot.  That 
Brutus  had  slain  Caesar.  That  the  Mayflower  had  landed 
our  fathers  on  P]\  mouth  Rock.  That  wicked  George  III. 
was  a  tyrant,  and  that  the  boys  in  Boston  had  thrown  a  tea- 
kettle at  his  head.  I  knew  all  about  our  George  and  the 
cherry  tree,  and  there  my  historical  knowledge  ended. 

So  here  I  was  launched  out  in  the  world  a  model  scholar! 
Stamped  as  proficient  in  grammar,  history,  logic,  philoso- 
phy and  arithmetic,  but  yet  in  useful  knowledge  a  barbarian, 
unable  to  spell  or  even  write  a  grammatical  letter  and  un- 
versed in  the  ways  of  the  world — a  world,  too,  where  I 
would  be  cast  entirely  upon  my  own  resources. 

My  home  life  was  happy.  My  father  had  lost  his  grip  on 
the  world,  but  his  faith  in  the  Unseen  remained.  My 
mother,  caring  little  for  this  life,  lived  in  and  for  the  spir- 
itual.    To  her  heaven  was  a  place  as  much  as  the  country 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  21 

village  where  she  was  bom.  She  was  never  tired  of  talk- 
ing to  us  children  about  its  golden  streets  and  the  rest  there 
after  the  toils  and  pains  of  life.  But,  boylike,  we  discounted 
all  she  said,  and  felt  we  wanted  some  of  this  world  before 
we  knocked  at  the  gates  of  the  next 

We  loved  C/ur  mother,  but  her  soul  was  too  gentle  to 
keep  in  restraint  hot,  fiery  youths  like  my  brothers  and  my- 
self. On  the  whole  we  were  good  boys,  and  I  suppose 
caused  her  no  more  pain  than  the  average  youngsters. 
Perhaps  the  kc}notc  of  her  character  can  best  be  found  in 
the  following  incident,  if  that  which  was  of  daily  occurrence 
could  be  called  an  incident: 

Every  night  of  my  life  in  those  days  she  would  come  to 
my  bed  to  pray  over  me,  ever  saying,  as  she  kissed  me  or 
clasped  my  hand:  "My  son,  remember  if  you  were  to  pass 
your  whole  life  here  in  poverty  and  hardship  it  would  not 
much  matter  so  long  as  you  attain  to  the  Hieavenly  Rest." 
This  teaching  would  have  been  well  had  she  only  taught 
me  some  worldl}-  wisdom  with  it,  but  that  all-ejssential 
knowledge  was  kept  from  me,  I  being  left  to  learn  the 
ways  of  man  in  that  terrible  school  of  experience.  The 
consequence  being  that  when  after  some  months  I  was 
launched  out  in  life  I  was  a  ripe  and  apt  victim  to  be  caught 
in  the  world's  huge  snare.  In  fact,  had  my  parents  de- 
signed me  to  become  a  traveler  in  the  Primrose  Way  they 
could  not  have  educated  me  to  better  purpose. 

Save  when  in  the  school  I  had  never  been  permitted  to 
associate  v.it^h.  other  boys,  but  was  kept  in  the  house,  and  up 
to  my  sixteenth  year  hardly  dreamed  there  was  evil  in  the 
world.  I  was  told  much  about  the  "wicked,"  but  thought 
that  meant  those  who  smoked  tobacco  or  drank  whisky. 
I  hardly  thought  any  women  came  under  that  category,  but 
if  any,  then  it  nmst  mean  those  who  came  around  selling 
apples  and  oranges.  The  reader  will  see  that  when  once 
away  from  the  shelter  of  home,  in  threading  the  world's 


22  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

devious  ways,  I  would  be  crossing  the  roaring  torrent  "on 
the  perilous  footing  of  a  spear,"  all  but  certain  to  fall  into 
the  flood  beneath. 

During  my  last  year  at  school  and  for  a  long  time  after 
leaving  it,  my  father  and  mother  were  never  tired  of  talking 
about  my  good  education.  Possibly  they  were  not  very 
good  judges,  but  I  am  confident  that  they,  after  all,  did 
not  realize  the  importance  of  a  boy  being  well  equipped 
in  that  regard.  Their  thoughts  and  minds  were  so  bent 
on  the  other  world,  and  things  unseen  bulked  so  hugely 
on  their  mental  vision,  that  there  was  small  space  left  for 
things  of  this  earth.  They,  good,  simple  souls,  were  made 
for  and  ought  to  have  lived  in  the  Golden  Age,  when  all 
men  were  brave  and  all  women  true,  where  neighborly  eyes 
reflected  the  love  and  faith  within;  but  in  our  utilitarian 
days  they  were  sadly  out  of  place,  and  little  wonder  if  they 
had  lost  their  way  in  this  world. 

In  their  intense  longing  for  the  life  beyond  the  grave, 
their  passionate  desire  to  walk  the  streets  of  gold,  they,  by 
their  actions,  seemed  to  forget  that  we  were  on  this  earth, 
and  that  we  were  here  with  many  sharp  reminders  of  the 
fact. 

The  same  guilelessness  was  manifested  in  their  choice 
of  our  home  reading.  The  books  I  was  allowed  access  to 
in  the  house  were  "The  Life  of  King  David,"  "The  His- 
tory of  Jerusalem,"  "Baxter's  Saints'  Rest,"  "The  Immor- 
tal Dreamer's  Pilgrim"  and  Fox's  "Book  of  Martyrs."  His 
first  martyr  is  Stephen,  and  such  was  my  gross  ignorance 
of  history  that  I  always  supposed  Stephen  had  been  mar- 
tyred by  the  Church  of  Rome.  Here  was  mental  food  for  a 
boy  who  had  his  own  way  to  make  in  the  world. 

Craving  other  mental  food  than  "The  Life  of  David,"  I 
used  to  club  pennies  with  a  chum  and  buy  that  delectable 
sheet,  "Ned .  Buntline's  Own,"  then  in  fear  and  trembling 
would  creep  to  an  upper  room  and  read  "The  Haunted 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  ^ 

House"  or  "The  Ghost  of  Castle  Ivy"  until  my  hair  stood 
on  end  in  a  sort  of  ecstatic  horror;  or  the  stirring  adven- 
tures of  "Jack  the  Rover"  or  "Pirate  Chief"  until  my  brain 
took  fire  and  a  mighty  impulse  stirred  every  fibre  impelling 
me  to  follow  in  their  footsteps. 

I  had  remained  idly  at  home  for  some  six  months  after 
my  release  from  school,  when  one  night  my  father  re- 
turned from  New  York  and  said:  "My  son,  I  have  found  a 
sittiation  for  you."  That  was  delightful  news,  and  when  I 
went  to  bed  that  night  I  was  too  excited  to  sleep. 

The  future  was  full  of  color,  red  and  purple,  of  course. 
Happily  for  m.e  the  future  in  all  its  black  misery  was  hid- 
den behind  those  gilded  clouds. 

So  now  at  sixteen  I  was  about  to  sail  out  of  harbor,  and 
how  ecjuipped! 

Absolutely  without  education,  void  of  worldly  wisdom, 
and  in  my  boyish  brain  dividing  the  world  into  two  sec- 
tions. In  one  was  King  David  slaying  the  Phillistines  or 
dancing  before  the  Ark.  In  the  other  was  Jack  the  Rover 
and  the  Pirate  Chief.  How  easy  to  guess  the  rest!  Yet  I 
was  not  a  bad  boy — far  from  it.  I  only  needed  wise  guid- 
ance and  good  companionship,  and  as  the  ignorance  and 
crudity  of  my  character  dropped  off,  the  innate  virtue — mine 
by  lawful  heritage — would  have  been  developed.  But 
pitchforked  into  the  wild  whirl  of  Wall  street  and  its  fast 
set  of  gilded  youth,  the  gates  of  the  Primrose  Way  to  de- 
struction were  held  wide  open  to  my  eager  feet. 


CHAPTER   II. 

"  'TWAS  EVER  THUS."     OF  COURSE  IT  WAS. 

The  situation  my  father  had  obtained  for  me  was  with  a 
sugar  bicker  by  the  name  of  Waterbury.  He  was  a  part- 
ner in  a  large  refinery,  his  ofifice  being  in  South  Water 
street.  He  war  a  nice,  conservative  old  man,  and  let  things 
run  on  easih\  His  chief  clerk,  Mr.  Ambler,  was  every  inch  a 
gentleman,  who,  quickly  perceiving  what  an  ignoramus  I 
was,  out  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart  resolved  to  teach  me 
something. 

There  were  two  sharp  young  men  in  our  office.  They 
liked  me  well  enough,  but  used  to  guy  me  unmercifully  for 
my  simplicity  and  clumsiness.  One  of  them,  Harry  by 
name,  was  something  of  a  scapegrace,  and  soon  acquired 
quite  a  power  over  me.  I  stood  in  much  fear  of  his  ridi- 
cule, and  frequently  did  things  for  which  my  conscience  re- 
proached me^  rather  than  st-and  the  fire  of  his  raillery.  The 
greatest  harm  he  did  me  was  in  firing  my  imagination  with 
stories  of  V\''all  street,  of  the  fortunes  that  were  and  could 
be  made  in  the  gold  room  or  on  'Change.  He  made  tol- 
erably clear  the  modus  operandi  of  speculators,  and  I  se- 
cretly resolved  that  some  day  I,  too,  would  tr}'^  my  fortune. 

My  friend  Mr.  Ambler's  health  was  bad,  and  frequent 
attacks  of  illness  caused  him  to  be  away  from  the  office 
for  weeks  at  a  time,  and  that  meant  much  loss  to  me.  When 
I  had  been  there  about  a  year,  he  resigned  his  position  and 
went  as  manager  for  a  factory  in  New  Haven.  But  before 
(24) 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  25 

leaving  he  interested  himself  so  far  in  my  welfare  as  to  se- 
cure me  a  position  with  a  firm  of  brokers  in  New  street,  at  a 
salary  of  $io  a  week.  My  employers  were  good  fellows, 
lovers  of  pleasure  and  men  of  the  world,  not  scrupling  to 
talk  freely  with  me  of  their  various  adventures  out  of  busi- 
ness hours.  I  had  lost  much  of  my  awkwardness  and 
gauche  manners,  and  under  the  $io  a  week  arrangement  be- 
gan to  dress  fairly  well.  My  employers  did  a  brokerage 
business  and  speculated  as  well  on  their  own  account.  My 
duties  were  decidedly  light  and  pleasant,  and  brought  me 
into  contact  with  some  of  the  sharpest  as  well  as  the  m.cst 
famous  men  in  the  street.  Among  them  was  a  brilliant 
young  man  of  my  own  age,  who  took  a  great  fancy  to  me, 
and  frequently  proposed  that  we  should  start  for  ourselves. 
Being  doubtful  of  my  powers,  I  shrank  from  risking  my 
scanty  funds  in  any  speculative  venture.  Much  to  m}- 
mother's  concern,  I  had  begun  attending  the  theatre,  and 
one  night,  on  my  friend  Ed  Weed's  invitation,  I  went  with 
him  to  Niblo's.  After  the  performance  we  went  to  supper 
at  Delmonico's,  and  1  was  perfectly  fascinated  by  the  com- 
pany and  surroundings,  going  home  long  past  midnight  a 
different  man  than  I  had  last  left  it. 

The  next  day  Ed  came  to  the  office  and  invited  me  to 
lunch,  where,  after  making  some  disparaging  remarks 
about  the  country  cut  of  my  garments,  he  offered  to  intro- 
duce me  to  his  tailor,  who  was  never  in  a  hurry  for  his 
money.  After  business  that  day  we  walked  uptown  to- 
gether, and,  prompted  by  Ed,  T  ordered  $150  worth  of  gar- 
ments, then  went  to  his  outfitter  and  ordered  nearly  an 
equal  amount  in  shirts,  ties,  gloves,  etc. 

One  amusing  result  was  that  when,  a  few  days  later,  I 
walked  down  to  our  office,  comme  il  faut  in  garb,  my  em- 
ployers raised  my  salary  to  $30  a  week,  but  this  left  me 
poorer  than  when  I  had  husbanded  my  poor  little  $10. 
Soon  after,  piloted  by  Ed,  I  ventured  $50  on  a  margin  in 


26  FROM   WALL  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

gold.  Unlrckih,  I  won,  invested  again  and  again,  and 
within  fourteen  days  was  $284  ahead.  I  paid  my  tailor  and 
outfitter's  bill,  bought  a  $100  watch  on  credit,  and  gave  a 
wine  supper  on  borrowed  money.  Soon  after  this  I  went 
to  board  at  the  old  St.  Nicholas,  the  then  fashionable  hotel. 
From  that  time  I  began  to  drift  more  and  more  away  from 
home  influences. 

Soon  after  the  wine  supper  episode  I  threw  up  my  posi- 
tion, and  Ed  and  I  started  on  our  own  account  under  the 
name  of  E.  Weed  &  Co.  My  partner's  parents  were 
wealthy,  and  his  father  had  been  well  known  in  the  street, 
which  fact  gave  us  standing. 

The  years  I  speak  of  were  fortunate  ones  for  Wall  street, 
stocks  of  every  kind  on  the  boom,  the  general  wealth  of  the 
country  massing  up  by  leaps  and  bounds,  and  every  kind  of 
speculative  enterprise  being  launched.  Our  firm  history 
was  the  usual  one  of  broker  'irms  in  that  tumultuous  arena 
— the  Wall  street  of  those  days — commissions  in  plenty,  a 
large  income,  but  one's  bank  account  never  growing,  for 
what  was  made  by  day  in  the  wild  excitement  of  shifting 
values  Avas  thrown  away  amid  wilder  scenes  at  night. 
Those,  too,  weTQ.  indeed,  the  flush  times  for  the  profes- 
sional gambler;  for  men  were  not  content  unless  they 
burned  the  candle  at  both  ends.  Day  faro  banks  were 
open  everywhere  around  the  Exchange,  and  enormous  sums 
were  nightly  staked  in  the  uptown  games.  These  were 
evervwhere — all  protected,  and  the  proprietors  invested  their 
money  for  rent,  fixtures,  etc.,  with  as  much  confidence,  and 
and  kept  their  doors  open  as  freely,  as  if  embarked  in  a  le- 
gitimate speculation.  Hundreds  who  spent  the  business 
hours  of  the  day  in  the  mad  excitement  of  the  Exchange 
flocked  around  the  green  cloth  at  night,  devoting  the  same 
intensity  of  thought  and  brain  to  the  turning  of  a  card 
which  earlier  in  the  day  they  had  given  to  the  market  re- 
ports of  the  world.  •  Small  wonder  that  death  cut  such  wide 


VIA  THE    PRIMROSE   WAY.  27 

swaths  ill  the  army  of  brokers.  Statistics  show  that  it  was 
more  fatal  to  belong  to  that  army  than  to  an  army  in  the 
field. 

Ed  loved  to  have  me  with  him,  and  I  used  to  accompany 
him  to  a  game,  then  quite  famous,  run  by  John  Morrissey, 
w'ho  later  became  a  member  of  Congress.  At  this  time  I 
never  ventured  a  single  bet,  and  did  not  like  to  visit  the 
place.  But  Ed  would  beg  me  to  go,  and  always  promised 
faithfully  not  to  lemain  more  than  twenty  minutes.  Of 
course,  his  twenty  mxinutes  would  lengthen  into  hours.  Fre- 
quently I  would  take  a  chair  into  a  corner  and  go  to  sleep 
until  he  left  the  game,  that  being  almost  any  hour  between 
midnight  and  morning.  As  usual,  in  such  places,  an  ele- 
gant supper  was  sensed  free  at  midnight.  The  proprietor 
was  always  rather  attentive  to  me,  and,  to  give  him  the 
credit  due,  seemed  anxious  that  I  should  not  play.  At  sup- 
per he  always  reserved  the  chair  next  to  himself  for  me. 
One  night  while  standing  beside  the  roulette  wheel,  no  one 
wa-  playing,  and  the  dealer  was  idly  whirling  the  ball,  a  sud- 
den impulse  seized  me,  and  the  ball  then  rolling,  I  pulled  a 
$20  bill  from  my  pocket  and  threw  it  down  on  the  red  re- 
marking, "I'll  lose  that  to  pay  for  my  suppers."  Unhap- 
pily I  won,  and,  laughing,  turned  to  the  dealer  and  said: 
"Here,  give  me  my  money.  I  am  done,"  and  a  moment 
later  went  out  W'ith  my  friend,  fully  determined  never  more 
to  gamble.  But,  being  in  there  the  next  night,  I,  of  course, 
ventured  again.  Again  I  was  so  unfortunate  as  to  win,  and 
within  a  short  time  staked  and  lost  or  w^on  nightly.  But 
scm.ething  worse  than  gambling  was  ahead  of  me,  just  at  the 
very  door. 


CHAPTER   III. 

A  LICENSED  PIRATE. 

We  had  latterly  somewhat  neglected  business — our  real 
business  being  at  night,  when  we  made  the  pursuit  of  pleas- 
ure hard  work.  Soon  the  finances  of  our  firm  not  only  ran 
low,  but  were  on  three  several  occasions  exhausted,  so  that 
we  not  only  had  recourse  to  borrowing,  but  were  barely 
saved  from  bankruptcy  by  liberal  donations  from  Ed's  pa- 
rents. His  father  was  a  fine,  jolly  old  gentleman,  and  took 
it  quite  a  matter  of  course  that  it  was  his  duty  to  help  us  off 
the  rocks  v/hen  we  ran  on  them.  IMy  partner  took  every- 
thing easy,  but  I,  having  no  indulgent  parent  behind  me 
ever  ready  to  draw  a  check,  began  to  be  uneasy  over  the 
financial  situation.  Strangely  enough,  however,  it  never  oc- 
curred to  me  t(^  cut  down  my  personal  expenses,  and  I  con- 
tinued living  at  the  same  extravagant  rate  as  when  money 
was  plenty — dining  and  wining  and  being  dined  and  wined. 
Just  here  an  important  character,  one  destined  to  have  an 
influence  for  evil  on  my  future  life,  came  upon  the  scene, 
and  I  will  halt  for  a  moment  in  my  narrative  to  give  some 
account  of  him. 

This  man  was  James  Irving,  popularly  known  as  Jimmy 
Irving,  chief  of  the  New  York  Detective  Force,  and  a  bad- 
hcirtcd,  worthless  scamp  he  was.  I  was  with  several  friends 
in  the  Fifth  Avenue  Hotel  one  cold  January  night  when  he 
came  in,  and  one  of  our  party,  knowing  him,  introduced  us. 
He  was  a  man  of  medium  height,  rather  heavy  set,  blond 
(28) 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  29 

mustache,  pleasant  eyes,  but  with  a  weak  mouth  and  chin, 
and  a  flushed  face,  telHng  a  tale  of  dissipation.  It  was  when 
Boss  Tweed  ruled  supreme  in  New  York  and  the  whole  ad- 
ministration was  honeycombed  with  corruption.  Except 
under  similar  political  conditions  could  such  a  man  attain 
to  so  responsible  an  office  in  a  great  city  as  that  of  chief 
of  the  detective  force — a  position  which  at  that  time  in- 
vested him  with  all  but  autocratic  power.  An  old  rounder 
and  barroom  loafer,  without  one  attribute  of  true  manliness 
and  not  possessed  of  any  quality  which  would  point  him  out 
as  a  fit  man  for  the  place.  Nevertheless,  when  the  position 
became  vacant  his  political  pull  caused  his  selection.  From 
being  a  mere  detective  on  the  staff  he  became  chief.  And 
truly  this  meant  something  in  those  days.  The  great  civil 
war  had  but  lately  ended,  and  the  country  was  still  reeling 
from  the  mighty  conflict.  The  flush  times,  resultant  from 
the  enormous  money  issue  of  the  Government,  kept  every- 
thing booming.  The  foundations  of  society  were  shaken 
and  vice  no  longer  hid  itself  in  the  dark  caves  and  dens  of 
the  great  city.  The  Tenderloin,  with  its  multifarious  and 
widcreachmg  influence  for  evil,  was  then  created,  and  the 
police  of  the  city  reaped  a  royal  revenue  from  its  thousand 
dens  of  vice  for  their  protection.  To  be  captain  of  the  Ten- 
derloin precinct  meant  an  extra  weekly  income  of  $i,ooo 
at  least.  He  had  the  lion's  share;  about  an  equal  amount 
went  to  Headquarters,  to  be  divided  between  the  Chief  of 
Police  and  the  gang,  Irving  being  one  of  the  half  dozen 
who  had  pull  enough  to  get  in  the  ring.  The  Tenderloin 
lieutenant,  roundsman  and  sergeant  came  in  for  about  $ioo, 
$50  and  S25  a  week,  while  the  common  patrolman  got  what 
blackmail  he  could  on  his  own  account  from  the  unhappy 
women  of  the  street.  These  were  considered  lawful  game, 
and  woe  betide  the  poor  unfortunate  who  refused  to  pay 
the  tax.  Too  well  she  found  it  meant  a  violent  arrest,  ac- 
companied with  brutal  treatment,  a  night  in  a  filthy  cell, 


30  FROM   WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

and  then  to  be  dragged  before  the  magistrate,  who  was 
some  ward  heeler,  hand  in  glove  with  the  police.  The 
font!  of  a  trial  and  a  speedy  "six  months  on  the  island" 
from  the  lips  of  the  judge  followed. 

From  Spring  street  to  Tenth,  Broadway  was  full  of  night 
games — faro — each  and  all  paying  large  sums  for  protec- 
tion. This,  money,  however,  did  not  all  go  to  Police  Head- 
quarters, there  being  a  host  of  parasites  aside  from  the  po- 
lice. The  shoulder-hitter  politicians,  each  with  his  pull, 
and  each  having  a  claim  to  his  percentage.  Most  of  the 
Broadway  games  were  known  as  square  games,  but  then 
there  was  the  host  of  skin  games  in  the  Bowery,  Chatham 
square,  Houston,  Prince  and  other  streets.  The  Eighth 
Ward  and  all  Broadway  were  considered  the  lawful  happy 
hunting  grounds  for  Headquarters  detectives,  and  this  by 
long  prescription.  Outside  of  that  they  had  no  claim  save 
only  to  a  percentage  from  the  Tenderloin.  But  the  pro- 
tection money  paid  by  the  swindling  games  around  Chat- 
ham square,  Bayard  street,  and  the  whole  length  of  the  Bow- 
ery, by  a  sort  of  sacred  prescription,  belonged  to  the  cap- 
tains of  those  precincts,  save  only  that  part  absorbed  by  the 
politicians  of  the  district  who  had  a  pull.  These  usually 
were  the  Aldermen  and  Councilmen  with  their  henchmen. 

But  to  return  to  my  friend,  Capt.  Jim  Irving,  who,  be- 
fore our  party  separated,  had  opened  three  bottles  of  wine. 
Before  leaving  I  had  asked  him  to  call  on  me  at  the  St. 
Nicholas.  The  next  day  he  came  and  invited  me  to  take 
a  drive  with,  him  to  Fordham  the  following  Sunday.  On 
Sunday  he  appeared  behind  a  fast  trotting  horse,  and  in 
every  respect  an  elegant  turnout  During  our  drive  he 
casually  remarked  that  he  had  paid  a  thousand  dollars  for 
the  rig,  and  as  his  pay  was  some  two  thousand  dollars  per 
annum  I  easily  figured  that  his  rig  and  diamond  pin  had  cost 
him  about  a  year's  salary.  It  was  a  lovely  m(iming,  not 
cold,  but  bracing,  just  the  day  for  a  ride.    We  started  for 


PULLING   our   A    ?L'0   lULL.    I    THREW   IT      DOWN."— Page   27. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  81 

Fordham,  but  changed  our  minds  and  drove  to  the  High 
Bridge,  through  Harlem  lane,  and  well  out  into  Westches- 
ter County.  Returning,  we  stopped  at  O'Brien's  Hotel 
for  dinner.  We  fared  sumptuously  the  whole  day  through, 
our  dinner  being  particularly  fine,  my  companion  paying 
for  ever}i:hing,  and  really  it  was  all  highly  enjoyable.  He 
had  a  vast  fund  of  anecdote,  and  many  strange  stories  of 
city  life  and  adventure,  which  naturally  would  be  expected 
from  one  in  his  position.  Many  of  those  we  passed  or  met 
during  the  day  were  personally  known  to  him,  and  some, 
both  women  as  well  as  men,  who  were  then  clothed  in  pur- 
ple and  fine  linen,  had  histories,  and  many  had  at  some  pe- 
riod of  their  lives  looked  on  life  from  the  seamy  side,  having 
passed  through  strange  vicissitudes. 

Soon  after  dark  we  returned  to  my  hotel,  and  after  dinner, 
lighting  our  cigars,  we  started  for  Police  Headquarters. 
There  he  attended  to  some  routine  business,  having  intro^ 
duced  me  to  two  of  his  chief  detectives.  Many  who  read 
this  will  recognize  the  men,  but  in  this  narrative  they  will 
be  known  as  Stanley  and  White.  I  will  not  further  describe 
them  now;  as  they  will  appear  in  the  story  from  time  to 
time,  the  reader  will  be  able  to  judge  what  manner  or  men 
they  were. 

For  tiie  next  eight  weeks  my  life  went  on  much  the  same 
as  usual.  In  our  business  we  made  some  money,  but  by 
one  unfortunate  investment  lost  our  entire  capital,  and 
what  proved  worse  for  me,  my  partner's  health  began  to  fail. 
Dissipation,  late  and  heavy  dinners  and  irregular  hours 
began  to  break  a  not  over-strong  constitution;  con- 
sequently one  Saturday  he  abruptly  announced  his  inten- 
tion of  withdrawing  from  the  partnership  to  take  a  trip  to 
Europe.  There  was  nothing  to  divide  save  the  furniture 
in  our  office,  which  he  presented  to  me.  The  following 
Wednesday  he  sailed  with  two  members  of  his  family.  I 
saw  him  ofr,  bidding  him  what  proved  to  be  a  last  fare- 


32  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

well.  I  left  the  wharf  feeling  very  lonely  and  miserable. 
It  may  be  well  to  remark  here  that  he  died  a  year  later  in 
Italy,  one  more  victim  of  a  fast  life,  while  I  was  spared,  but 
took  no  warning  from  his  fate.  In  truth,  I  was  in  the  Prim- 
rose Way,  which  is  ever  found  a  most  tormenting  and  un- 
happy thoroughfare. 

How  I  grieved  all  through  the  twenty  years  of  captivity 
that  I  had  not  had  the  moral  courage  to  start  afresh  upon  a 
basis  cf  truth,  sobriety  and  honorable  endeavor. 

Instead  of  cutting  down  my  expenses,  I  rather  became 
more  extiavagant,  fearing  my  companions  would  suspect 
I  was  pressed  for  money.  How  much  more  manly  had  I 
called  them  together  and  told  them  we  must  part  company. 

Meeting  Irving  from  time  to  time,  he  was  most  flatter- 
ing in  his  attentions,  while  I  was  young  enough  and  silly 
enough  to  be  pleased  with  his  notice.  One  evening  about 
this  time  I  met  him  while  coming  out  of  Wallack's  Theatre. 
Shaking  hands  warmly,  he  invited  me  to  supper  at  what 
was  then  known  as  upper  Delmonico's.  After  supper, 
walking  to  the  St.  Denis  Hotel  at  Broadway  and  nth  street, 
we  found  Detectives  Stanley  and  White.  Here  wine  was 
ordered,  and  long  after  midnight  we  parted,  they  first  hav- 
ing exacted  a  promise  to  dine  with  them  the  following  night 
at  Delmonico's,  at  the  same  time  stating  that  they  wished 
to  make  me  a  business  proposition. 

The  next  evening  White  came  in  and  said  we  would  dine 
at  a  restaurant  at  Sixth  avenue  and  31st  street,  instead  of  at 
Delmonico's;  then  he  left  me,  upon  my  promise  to  be  on 
hand. 

At  eleven  I  arrived,  and  entering  the  restaurant  was  at 
once  lecognized  by  a  waiter,  evidently  on  the  lookout,  and 
ushered  into  a  private  room  upstairs.  Only  White  had 
arrived,  but  soon  Irving  and  Stanley  came,  and  supper  was 
ordered.  With  such  gentry  as  these  wine  is  always  in  order. 
Then  they  became  confidential,  and  the  conversation  turned 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  33 

to  the  subject  of  making  money.  Very  skillfully  they  ex- 
tracted the  confession  that  I  had  none.  When  excited  by 
the  talk  and  the  wine  I  cried  out,  "By  heaven,  I  want  mon- 
ey!" Stanley  grasped  my  hand  and  said:  "Of  course  you 
do;  a  man's  a  fool  without  it."  Irving  interjected:  "Are 
you  game  to  do  us  a  favor  and  make  ten  thousand  for 
yourself?"  "But  how?"  I  gasped.  "Go  to  Europe  and  ne- 
gotiate some  stolen  bonds  we  have,  will  you?" 

For  $10,000  to  become  accessory  to  a  crime! 

It  was  an  appalling  proposition,  and  I  shrank  from  it 
with  an  aversion  I  could  not  conceal  any  more  than  he  and 
his  confederates  could  conceal  their  chagrin  over  the  way  I 
took  it,  and  over  the  fact  that  their  secret  had  been  im- 
parted to  another.  More  wine  was  ordered,  and  before  we 
parted  I  had  promised  not  only  secrecy,  but,  worse  still,  I 
had  also  promised  to  consider  the  proposition  and  give  my 
answer  the  following  night. 

As  my  evil  genus  would  have  it,  that  very  morning  I  had 
a  visit  in  my  office  from  the  agent  of  my  landlord,  request- 
ing arrears  of  rent,  and  from  a  tradesman  whom  I  was  ow- 
ing, demanding  immediate  payment  of  an  overdue  bill. 

Pressed  for  money  as  I  was^  the  $10,000  seemed  a  large 
sum  and  offered  an  easy  way  out  of  my  difficulties.  I  shall 
never  forget  that  day  nor  how  its  slow  minutes  dragged 
during  the  mental  struggle.  Time  after  time  I  said:  "What 
could  I  not  do  with  $10,000?"  How  vast  the  possibilities 
before  me  with  that  sum  at  my  command!  Then,  after  all, 
had  not  the  owner  of  these  bonds  lost  them  forever,  and  why 
should  not  I  have  a  share  instead  of  letting  these  villain  de- 
tectives keep  all?  And  through  all  I  kept  saying  to  my- 
self: "This,  of  course,  is  only  speculation.  I  will  never  do 
this  thing." 

At  last  the  stars  came  out,  and  I  started  for  a  long  walk 
alone  up  Broadway  to  Fifth  avenue  and  into  the  Park.  Since 
that  Park  was  formed  few  men  have  ever  passed  its  walks 


S4 


FROM    WALT.   STREET   TO   NEWCx.NT 


in  whose  bosoms  raged  such  a  tumult  as  in  mine.  I  was 
young,  in  love  with  pleasure,  and  poverty  seemed  a  fearful 
thing.  I  kept  saying:  "I  cannot  do  this  thing!"  and  then  I 
would  add:  "How  am  I  to  keep  up  appearances,  and  how 
am  I  to  pay  my  debts?"  Unhappily,  I  had  taken  an  enemy 
into  the  citadel.  In  the  misery  of  the  struggle  I  drank 
heavily. 

In  my  excitement  I  exaggerated  my  poverty  until  it 
seemed  inipersonated  and  assumed  the  guise  of  an  enemy 
threatening  to  enslave  me.  From  8  o'clock  to  ii  I  paced 
that  mall,  and  then  left  it  to  keep  my  appointment  with  Irv- 
ing &  Co.,  with  one  thought  surging  through  my  brain,  and 
that  was  that  I  dared  not  be  poor,  the  result  being  that  be- 
fore we  parted,  to  their  renewed  question :  "Will  you  do  this 
for  us?"  "Of  course  I  will!"  I  cried,  and  my  feet  had  slipped 
a  good  many  steps  further  down  the  Primrose  Way  to 
death. 


BURNING   RETURNED   BANK   NOTES. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

FOOLS  STUMBLING  ON  FORTUNES. 

The  present  generation  has  become  tolerably  familiar 
with  defalcations  and  robberies  involving  enormous  sums. 
Previous  to  1861  they  were  comparatively  unknown,  the 
reason  being  that  the  currency  of  the  country  was  strictly 
limited.  There  were  absolutely  no  Government  bonds  or 
currency,  while  the  few  bonds  issued  by  corporations  were 
not  usually  made  payable  to  bearer,  and,  therefore,  were 
not  negotiable,  and  were  of  no  use  to  the  robber.  But  in 
1861,  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  war,  the  State  banks  were 
taxed  out  of  existence  and  our  present  national  currency 
system  came  into  being.  In  addition  to  the  enormous  issue 
of  greenbacks,  bonds  payable  to  bearer,  amounting  to  hun- 
dreds of  millions,  were  issued  by  the  general  Government, 
by  the  individual  States,  counties,  towns  and  cities,  all  be- 
coming popular  investments.  Patriotism,  and  profit  as 
well,  led  banks,  corporations  and  individuals  all  over  the 
world  to  invest  surplus  funds  in  bonds,  those  of  the 
Government  being  most  popular  of  all.  The  various  issues 
authorized  by  act  of  Congress  were  known  as  "seven-thir- 
ties," "ten-forties,"  "five-twenties,"  etc.,  these  terms  denoting 
either  tlie  rate  of  interest  or  the  period  of  years,  dating 
from  the  first  issue,  wherein  it  was  optional  with  the  Gov- 
ernment to  redeem  them.  Everywhere,  at  home,  in  the 
theatres  and  public  resorts  not  less  than  on  the  Exchange, 
were  heard  animated  discussions  about  "seven-thirties"  and 
3  (37) 


88  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

"ten-forties."  The  business  of  the  express  companies  of 
the  United  States  took  a  new  phase,  and  for  the  first  time 
in  their  history  they  began  to  be  the  carriers  of  vast  sums 
from  city  to  city. 

Then  it  was  that  those  gentlemen  who  work  without  the 
pale  of  the  law  discovered  new  prospects  of  wealth,  and 
realized  that  even  to  crack  a  safe  or  vault  of  a  private  firm 
would  be  rewarded  by  a  find  of  bonds  that  might  amply  re- 
pay all  risks  of  robbery  under  police  protection,  while  to 
execute  a  successful  raid  on  a  car  or  even  an  express  deliv- 
ery wagon  on  the  street  would  mean  wealth.  To  burglarize 
the  vaults  of  a  bank  meant,  if  undetected,  anything  from 
opening  a  magnificent  bar  or  hotel  in  New  York  to  a  steam 
yacht  and  Winter  cruises  in  the  tropics,  and  Summer  nights 
on  the  Mediterranean. 

The  first  coup  in  this  line,  which  at  once  became  famous, 
was  startling  in  its  ease  and  magnitude.  It  was  known,  and 
still  is,  as  "The  Lord  Bond  Robbery."  Lord  was  a  very 
wealthy  man,  who  had  inherited  his  millions.  His  office 
was  in  Broad  street,  where  he  managed  his  estates.  He  had 
invested  $1,200,000  in  seven-thirty  bonds,  all  payable  to  bear- 
er. For  the  thief,  if  he  had  any  knowledge  of  finance,  and 
knew  hov/  to  negotiate  them,  such  a  sum  as  this  in  bonds 
was  better  than  the  same  amount  in  gold,  it  being  more 
portable.  One  milUon  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
gold  would  weigh  upward  of  a  ton,  and  would  be  difficult  to 
handle,  but  that  sum  in  bonds  would  hardly  fill  a  carpet- 
sack.  In  our  day,  with  safety  deposit  vaults  everywhere, 
it  seems  strange  that  any  sane  man  would  keep  so  vast  a 
sum  in  an  old-fashioned  vault  in  his  private  office,  but  Lord 
did  so.  His  office  was  a  very  quiet  one,  with  but  few  vis- 
itors, there  being  no  business  transacted  in  it  but  that  of 
his  estate. 

At  this  time  there  were  three  or  four  gangs  in  New  Yprk, 
all  well  known  and  friendly  with  the  police — that  is,  some  or 


BY   HEAVEN,    I    WANT    MONET."— Page  33. 


VIA  THE   PRIMROSE  WAT.  39 

all  were  more  or  less  under  "protection,"  and  had  pulls  at 
Police  Headquarters.  But  the  pull  could  not  be  depended 
upon  at  all  times,  particularly  if  the  robbery  made  a  noise 
and  the  press  took  it  up.  Then  there  would  be  violent 
kicks  at  Headquarters,  and  a  general  all-around  scramble 
to  get  the  thieves,  and.  so  far  as  safe,  stick  to  more  or  less 
of  the  plunder.  The  gang  that  got  Mr.  Lord's  bonds  was 
what  in  police  and  thieves'  slang  was  known  as  "On  the 
Oflfice,"  so  named  because  they  went  around  visiting  offices 
in  the  business  part  of  the  city,  one  of  the  gang  going  in 
on  pretense  of  making  some  inquiry  and  so  engaging  the 
attention  of  one  of  the  clerks.  Then  the  second  member 
would  come  in  and  endeavor  to  attract  the  attention  of  any 
remaining  clerks,  while  the  third  would  try  to  get  in  without 
attracting  attention,  and,  if  unnoticed  by  those  now  busy 
talking,  would  slip  around  behind  the  counter  to  the  money 
drawer  or  vault  and  carry  off  any  cash  box  or  package  vis- 
ible which  appeared  to  be  of  value.  This  gang  consisted 
of  three  men,  Hod  Ennis,  Charley  Rose  and  a  man  by  the 
name  of  Bullard,  afterward  made  notorious  by  engineering 
the  Boylston  Bank  robbery  in  Boston. 

In  the  absence  of  Lord  the  office  was  under  charge  of 
two  men,  old-fashioned  fellows,  who  had  grown  gray  in  the 
service  of  the  Lord  estate.  The  bonds  were  all  in  a  tin  box 
something  larger  than  a  soap  box.  The  interest  on  the 
bonds  being  due,  the  box  had  been  taken  out  in  order  to 
cut  off  the  coupons,  and  was  left  in  the  door  of  the  open 
vault.  None  of  these  circumstances  was  known  to  these 
men;  in  fact,  while  "looking  for  chances,"  they  stumbled  on 
the  prize.  The  night  previous  they  had  spent  at  a  well- 
known  faro  game  and  had  lost  their  last  dollai.  At  9 
o'clock  in  the  morning  they  met  at  a  saloon  on  Prince 
street,  where  none  but  crooks  consorted,  and,  borrowing  a 
dollar  from  the  barkeeper,  they  took  a  South  Ferry  stage 
and  started  downtown  on  one  of  mtiny  similar  piratical  e>Q- 


40  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

peditions.  Of  course,  each  paid  his  own  fare,  as  from  the 
moment  of  starting  until  their  return  they  appeared  to  be 
strangers.  Alighting  at  the  ferry,  they  started  up  Front 
street,  Rose  in  lead,  he  being  pilot-fish.  From  Front  they 
turned  into  Broad,  and  up  Broad  to  No.  22,  where  there 
were  a  number  of  offices.  Rose  mounted  the  staircase,  it 
now  being  five  minutes  to  10,  Bullard  coming  close  be- 
hind. Rose  entered  the  first  of!ice  to  the  lelt  at  the  head  of 
the  stairs,  which  was  Lord's,  and  at  once  inquired  by  name 
for  a  member  of  a  well-known  firm  located  a  few  doors 
down  across  the  street.  Lord  was  away.  The  clerk,  in  his 
desire  to  serve  the  gentleman,  went  to  the  front  windows 
to  point  out  the  location  of  the  firm.  Bullard,  who  had 
lingered  in  the  hall,  entered,  leaving  the  office  door  open 
behind  him,  and  at  once  engaged  the  attention  of  the  re- 
maining clerk  with  a  letter.  Ennis,  seeing  the  coast  cleai 
slipped  in,  went  softly  to  the  vault,  and  perceiving  the  tin 
box,  seized  and  carried  it  out,  unseen  by  all  save  his  com- 
panions. They,  seeing  him  safely  off,  found  a  quick  pre- 
text to  follow  without  any  suspicion  arising  in  the  minds  uf 
the  clerks.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  did  not  miss  the  box 
for  nearly  an  hour. 

Ennis  carried  it  to  Peck  Slip,  closely  follow^ed  by  his 
chums,  and  there  the  three  boarded  a  Second  avenue  car, 
all  unsuspecting  as  to  what  a  prize  they  had.  At  the  corner 
of  the  Bowery  and  Bayard  street  they  got  out  and  entered 
that  old  red  brick  hotel  on  the  corner — I  forget  the  name. 
They  were  acquainted  and  occasionally  rendezvoused  there, 
hiring  and  paying  for  the  room.  They  speedily  opened  the 
box,  and  were  amazed  to  find  it  packed  full  of  bonds — five 
hundreds,  thousands,  five-thousands,  all  payable  to  bearer. 
The  very  magnitude  of  their  plunder  terrified  them,  and, 
knowing  as  much  as  I  do  about  such  men,  I  am  free  to  af 
firm  that  if  a  buyer  of  stolen  property  had  appeared  on  the 
scene  and  said:  "Here,  I'll  give  you  $10,000  apiece,"  they 


VIA  THE   PRIMROSE   WAY.  41 

would  have  closed  the  deal  at  once  and  turned  over  the 
bonds,  glad  to  get  them  off  their  hands.  What  they  did 
was  this:  Rose  went  out  and  bought  a  second-hand  carpet 
bag  and  put  the  bonds  into  it,  save  sixty  five-hundreds, 
which  they  divided,  and  Bullard  resolved  to  leave  the  bag 
with  a  friend  of  his.  This  friend,  strangely  enough,  was  the 
v/idow  of  a  policeman  and  sister  of  two  others.  But  she 
knew  nothing  of  Bullard's  character,  believing  him  to  be  a 
workingman.  Ennis  and  Rose  were  two  ignorant  fellows, 
without  the  remotest  idea  of  how  to  negotiate  bonds,  but 
Bullard  had,  and,  realizing  how  important  it  was  to  get 
some  cash  before  the  thing  was  noised  around,  he  started 
out  to  sell  some,  agreeing  to  meet  Rose  and  Ennis  at  No. 
ICG  Third  avenue,  a  large  beer  saloon  then,  as  now. 

Going  to  different  brokers'  offices,  he  disposed  of  ten 
for  $5,000  v.'ithout  any  dil^culty,  and  stopped  at  that.  He 
met  his  two  friends  and  divided  the  $5,000  with  them.  Then, 
as  a  natural  consequence  with  that  class  of  men,  all  got 
drunk,  and  before  the  next  morning  had  spent,  loaned  or 
gambled  away  every  dollar  of  the  $5,000. 

I  remember  perfectly  the  tremendous  sensation  created 
when  a  rumor  of  the  robbery  spread  in  Wall  street  and  over 
the  city,  and  what  mystified  and  intensified  the  matter  was 
the  fact  that  no  complaint  had  been  made  to  the  police. 
When  Mr.  Lord  was  interviewed  by  them  and  by  reporlers 
he  would  not  admit  that  he  had  been  robbed,  and  said  if  he 
had  been  he  would  prefer  to  lose  the  money  rather  than  have 
a  fuss  made  about  the  affair. 

This  was  really  the  first  of  many  great  bond  robber- 
.ies,  and  it  struck  the  popular  fancy;  but  if  it  stirred  Wall 
street  greatly,  who  shall  describe  the  frenzy  of  excitement 
that  broke  out  at  300  Mulberry  street — Police  Headquar- 
ters— when  the  first  vague  rumors  of  a  gigantic  robbery 
were  fully  confirmed,  and  it  became  known  that  Hod  Ennis 
and  his  gang  had  a  million  and  more  of  plunder? 


42  FROM   WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

All  rings  and  pulls  and  gangs  were  smashed,  combined 
and  recombined  again,  while  each  and  all  were  in  an  agony 
of  fear  lest  the  booty  should  be  returned  to  the  owner — 
minus  a  percentage  divided  between  the  gang  and  the  ring, 
or  sold  to  some  clever  fence,  who  would  plant  them  away 
safely  and  sell  them  in  Europe  from  time  to  time,  keeping 
all  for  himself  and  they  to  have  no  share.  What  visions 
of  diamond  pins,  of  eight  or  twelve  carats,  all  Brazilian 
stones;  of  swift,  high-stepping  horses;  of  the  heaven  of  Har- 
lem lane  on  Sunday  afternoons,  with  a  bottle  or  two  under 
the  vest,  hai.nted  the  sleep  of  all  the  detective  force.  I  say 
the  police  knew  Hod  Ennis  and  his  gang  had  stolen  the 
bonds,  for  in  those  days  there  was  not  a  gang  of  confidence 
men,  card  sharpers,  bank  burglars,  counterfeiters  or  forgers 
traveling  the  country  but  that  the  gang  and  every  member 
of  it  was  vi'ell  known  to  the  Police  Department  of  each  of 
our  large  cities.  Whenever  a  job  was  done  a  score  of  de- 
tectives all  over  the  country  could  say  such  and  such  a 
gang  did  the  job,  and  they  were  almost  always  right. 

Whether  there  was  "something  in"  for  the  force  to  ar- 
rest and  convict  or  not,  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  thieves  were 
sooner  or  later  hocus-pocussed  out  of  their  share,  either  by 
the  police,  by  some  untrustworthy  fence,  or  by  some  lawyer 
who  was  pitched  upon  to  work  back  the  securities  on  a  per- 
centage. In  case  the  thief  succeeded  in  saving  part  of  the 
proceeds  he  immediately  lost  it  at  faro  or  in  reveln%  and 
then  risked  his  liberty  for  more. 

I  know  two  men  who  to-day  walk  the  streets  of  New 
York,  the  types  of  conservative  respectability,  members  of 
many  fashionable  clubs,  who,  in  the  sixties,  were  known 
as  fences,  and  were  alw^ays  ready  to  invest  cash  for  stolen 
bonds.  Both  of  these  men  compromised  with  their  con- 
science by  beating  down  the  price  and  giving  the  thieves 
but  3.  moiety  of  their  value.  Both  of  them  have  their  fads: 
t^'.r*  is  a  connoisseur  in  violins,  the  other  has  a  penchant 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  43 

for  orchids,  and  has  much  local  fame  for  tlie  rarities  in  his 
collection. 

Before  midnight  of  the  day  of  the  robbery  it  became 
known  to  the  force  and  many  of  the  hangers-on  of  the  gam- 
bling saloons  and  barrooms  of  the  Eighth  Ward  that  Hod 
Ennis  and  his  gang  had  money,  and  it  was  surmised  that 
it  must  be  from  the  Lord  business.  In  the  mean  time  Bul- 
lard  took  the  bag  of  bonds  up  to  Norwalk,  Ct,  and  placed 
them  for  safe-keeping  with  a  trusty  friend,  first  taking  out 
one  hundred  bonds  of  five  hundred  each  and  fifty  of  one 
thousand  each,  and,  returning  to  the  city,  divided  them  with 
his  comrades.  During  his  absence  the  photographs  of  the 
three  men  had  been  shown  at  Police  Headquarters  to  the 
two  clerks,  but  they  were  unable  to  identify  them. 

Within  the  next  few  days  the  $100,000  in  bonds  were 
completely  dissipated;  some  were  sold  to  buyers  of  stolen 
goods  for  a  percentage  of  the  value,  some  were  lost  at  the 
gambling  games — mostly  at  Morrissey's,  or  at  Mike  Mur- 
ray's on  Broadway,  near  Spring  street,  and  probably  some 
went  Mulberry  street  way.  Matters  were  thickening,  and, 
fearing  arrest,  Ennis  fled  to  Canada,  Bullard  to  Europe 
and  Rose  went  West  to  California.  Eventually  Ennis  was 
convicted  of  a  crime  committed  some  time  before.  He 
was  sentenced  to  a  long  imprisonment,  and  came  out  an 
old,  broken-down  m.an,  without  a  dollar  and  without  a 
friend.  Rose  was  sentenced  to  five  years  for  another  crime, 
and  then  disappeared.  Bullard  settled  down  in  Paris.  He 
afterward  returned  and  planned  the  Boylston  Banlc  affair  in 
Boston.  With  his  share  of  the  plunder  he  went  back  to 
Paris  and  opened  an  American  bar  at  the  Grand  Hotel  and 
flourished  for  some  years;  but,  wanting  .money,  he  commit- 
ted a  robbery  in  Belgium,  was  arrested^  and  is  now  serving 
a  long  sentence  for  the  same;  no  doubt,  if  he  survives,  he 
will  emerge  friendless,  penniless,  a  stranger  in  a  strange 
world. 


44  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

If  I  were  inclined  to  indulge  in  reminiscences,  what  a 
catalogue  could  be  given  of  men  who  had,  like  myself,  drift- 
ed into  the  I'rimrose  Way,  and  all,  or  nearly  all,  have  paid 
a  terrible  penalty  for  their  wrong-doing — none  more  terri- 
ble than  myself.  As  for  our  violin  virtuoso,  he  seems  to 
have  conquered  fate.  So,  too,  with  the  connoisseur  in  or- 
chids; but  let  us  wait  until  the  end  before  we  say  all  is  well 
with  them. 

Some  time  later  on,  meeting  one  of  these  detectives,  now 
dead,  who  then  ranked  as  the  best  in  New  York,  in  the  con- 
fidence of  the  bankers,  he  said:  "I  am  getting  old  and  am 
now  working  for  reputation,  and  consquently  am  not  tak- 
ing any  more  percentages.  Of  course,  I  don't  molest  any 
of  my  old  friends,  but  those  who  are  not  under  protection  I 
run  in  and  send  them  up  the  river  (Sing  Sing)  as  fast  as  I 
get  them  to  rights." 

This  need  not  be  considered  a  condemnation  of  all  detec- 
tives, for  there  were,  even  in  my  time,  a  few  honest  ones  of 
the  Pinkerton  and  John  Curtin  class — the  latter  being  now 
one  of  San  Francisco's  most  reliable,  who,  by  unusually 
considerate  judgment,  has  made  honorable  citizens  of  a  ver_y 
large  number  of  clerks  whom  he  had  been  called  upon  to 
detect  and  arrest.  This  he  accomplished  by  extracting  a 
confession  in  writing,  filing  it  among  his  secret  papers,  then 
saying  to  the  trembling  clerk:  "I  shall  have  you  reinstated 
in  your  position,  but  if  you  go  wrong  again  this  confession 
will  be  made  public." 

The  following  incident  will  further  enlighten  the  reader  as 
to  the  way  things  were  done  in  those  good  old  days: 

When  Boss  Tweed  was  in  the  full  zenith  of  his  power  and 
glory  and  of  the  wealth  so  easily  acquired  by  certain  methods, 
his  daughter  was  married.  All  of  the  then  chiefs  and  district 
officers  of  Tammany,  city  officials,  judges  and  heads  of  de- 
partments vied  with  each  other  in  the  presentation  of  wed- 
ding gifts,  among  which  was  a  check  for  $100,000  from  the 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT. 


4S 


father.  Seldom  has  any  bride  received  a  more  magnificent 
tribute,  for,  coming  from  such  sources,  they  were  nothing 
less  than  a  tribute.  Especially  was  this  the  case  with  one 
much-admired  gift  which  was  contributed  by  us  just  after 
an  illicit  operation  of  $40,000  in  Wall  street,  $4,000  of  which 
was  paid  to  Irving. 

In  the  column  list  of  wedding  gifts  in  the  next  morning's 
papers  was:  "One  solid  silver  punch  bowl,  value  $500,  pre- 
sented by  Superintendent  Kelso."  Shortly  after  paying 
Irving  the  $4,000  percentage  we  met  him  one  evening  at 
the  St.  Cloud  Hotel.  Mentioning  the  approaching  Tweed 
marriage,  he  suggested  that  it  would  be  the  thing,  and  make 
us  more  solid  with  the  Superintendent  of  Police,  for  us  to 
make  a  fine  present  to  "the  old  man,"  one  that  he  could  use 
as  a  gift  to  the  bride.  As  $500  was  not  much  to  our  party 
in  those  days,  we  assented,  and  handed  over  that  amount. 

Tififany's  was  then  located  down  Broadway,  and  among 
other  things  on  exhibition  in  the  window  was  a  large,  hand- 
some silver  punch  bowl.  This  was  purchased  with  our 
money,  which  was  known  to  have  been  obtained  by  forgery, 
and  presented  to  Superintendent  Kelso.  A  few  days  later 
the  bowl  reappeared  in  the  window  of  Tififany's  thus  in- 
scribed : 


TO  CATHERINE  TWEED. 

Presented  by 

JAMES  KELSO, 

Superintendent  of  Police. 

"May  loyalty  and  love  know  no  end. 


CHAPTER   V. 

WHEN      BOSS      TWEED  WAS   NEW  YORK'S   OWNER  AND 
JIM    FISK,    PROPRIETOR      OF      OUR      JUDGES. 

What  a  look  of  relief  and  triumph  swept  over  the  fax;es 
of  Irving,  Stanley  and  White  when  I  gave  my  consent  to 
their  proposal  to  take  the  stolen  bonds  to  Europe  and  ne- 
gotiate them  there.  We  understood  each  other  now,  and 
casting  aside  all  reserve,  their  tongues  wagged  freely,  and 
they  eagerly  told  me  how  confident  they  were  of  my  ability 
to  dispose  of  the  bonds  successfully,  and  also  of  my 
good  faith;  and,  furthermore,  told  me  I  was  the  only  man 
they  would  have  trusted.  Of  course,  they  had  no  security 
save  my  wcrd,  for  under  the  circumstances  they  could 
hardly  ask  me  for  a  receipt,  and  even  had  I  given  one  it 
would  have  been  valueless  had  I  chosen  to  retain  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  bonds.  Thus,  becoming  the  important  mem- 
ber of  the  firm,  I  told  them  to  produce  the  securities  and  I 
would  sail  immediately.  It  was  finally  settled  that  I  should 
go  by  the  steamer  Russia  of  the  Cunard  line,  which  was 
down  for  sailing  at  7  a.  m.  Wednesday,  and  they  were  to  de- 
liver the  bonds  to  me  on  Tuesday  night.  Upon  my  de- 
manding cash  to  pay  expenses,  their  faces  fell,  but  quickly 
brightened  when  I  told  them  to  give  me  a  thousand-dollar 
bond  and  I  would  borrow  that  amount  from  a  friend,  us- 
ing it  for  security.  There  was  no  danger  of  the  number  of 
the  bond  being  inspected,  and,  of  course,  I  would  pay  the 
note  upon  mv  return  and  receive  the  bond  again. 
(46) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  47 

They  told  me  many  amusing  lies  as  to  how  the  securities 
came  into  their  possession,  and  as  to  who  were  the  rig-htful 
owners.  The  truth  was,  as  I  afterward  learned,  they  were 
a  part  of  the  stolen  Lord  bonds. 

Bonds  issued  by  our  Government  and  held  in  Europe, 
chiefly  in  Holland  and  Germany,  were  so  enormous  in  vol- 
ume and  passed  so  freely  from  hand  to  hand,  that  it  was 
easy  for  a  well-drq^sed,  business-appearing  man  to  sell  anv 
quantity,  even  if  stolen,  as  by  law  the  innocent  holder  could 
not  be  deprived  of  them.  One  great  advantage  a  dishonest 
man  had  at  that  date  in  Europe,  especially  an  American,  was 
that  if  he  dressed  well  they  considered  he  must  be  a  gentle- 
man, and  if  he  had  money  that  was  a  proof  of  respectability 
— one  they  never  thought  of  questioning,  nor  how  he  came 
by  it;  then,  again,  it  was  an  article  of  their  creed  that  all 
Americans  are  rich. 

The  next  morning  (Tuesday),  Irving  met  me  near  the 
Exchange,  and,  with  some  trepidation,  drew  from  an  inner 
pocket  an  envelope  containing  the  thousand-dollar  bond. 
Without  waiting  to  examine  it,  I  walked  off,  saying:  "I'll 
be  back  in  ten  minutes."  He  was  evidently  alarmed,  and. 
like  all  rogues,  suspicious  of  every  one.  He  probably  had 
some  wild  idea  that  I  was  laying  a  trap  for  him.  In  his  ig- 
norance of  money  methods  he  thought  it  would  be  a  long, 
perhaps  difficult,  negotiation  to  borrow  money  on  the  bond, 
but,  of  course,  I  made  short  work  of  it;  and  "Jinimy"  was 
more  than  delighted  when  within  the  ten  minutes  I  walked 
in  with  ten  one  hundreds  in  my  hand.  A  trifle  like  this 
made  a  great  impression  upon  Irving,  and  from  that  time 
on  I  had  his  entire  confidence.  Tuesday  evening  I  said 
good-bye  to  my  mother,  merely  remarking  in  explanation 
of  my  journey  that  I  had  a  commission  given  me  to  exe- 
cute in  Europe. 

Leaving  her,  I  went  to  our  rendezvous,  near  Broad- 
way and  Astor  place,  where  I  found  Irving,  who  handed  me 


4S  FRO^M  V/ALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

over  his  "boodle"  (as  he  termed  it),  remarking  confidentially 
that  I  was  to  give  him  on  my  return  his  share  into  his  own 
hands;  and,  singularly  enough,  each  of  the  others  did  pre- 
cisely the  same  thing.  About  ii  o'clock  the  other  two 
came  in,  and  after  some  parley  White  handed  over  his 
bonds,  and  Stanley  informed  me  he  would  give  me  his  on 
board  before  the  steamer  sailed  the  next  morning.  I  had 
already  paid  my  bill  and  sent  my  baggage  over  to  Jersey 
City,  so  about  midnight  I  set  out,  they  accom.panying  me  as 
far  as  the  ferry,  and  there,  after  shaking  hands  a  half  dozen 
times,  we  said  good-bye.  Having  bought  my  ticket  and 
engaged  my  cabin,  I  went  direct  to  the  steamer  and  went 
to  bed.  In  the  morning  Stanley  appeared  and  gave  me  his 
bonds.  Ten  minutes  later  the  hawsers  were  cast  off  and 
we  were  steaming  down  the  bay.  Two  hours  latter  Fire 
Island  sank  beneath  the  horizon,  and  we  were  alone  on  the 
sea. 

Alone  on  the  sea!  and  a  fitting  place  to  tell  the  story  of 
a  famous  New  York  bank  robbery. 

In  the  good  old  days  when  Bill  Tweed  was  New  York's 
owner,  when  Jim  Fisk  was  the  proprietor  of  our  judges 
and  Kelso  sat  in  Mulberry  street,  the  king  of  those  good 
men,  the  police,  who  defend  our  lives  and  property,  this 
city  became  a  spectacle  to  gods  and  men  such  as  we  thought 
then  could  never  be  equaled.  We  thought  so  then,  but  we 
were  not  endowed  with  second  sight,  nor  with  the  gift  of 
prophecy,  or  we  might,  perhaps,  have  reserved  our  judg- 
ment. Still,  our  masters  were  a  uniciue  collection,  and  if 
they  have  been  equaled  or  surpassed  since,  they  held  with 
easy  grasp  the  pre-eminence  among  all  American  rulers 
who  had  shone  and  flourished  up  to  the  time  when  those 
great  men  gave  us  new  ideas  upon  the  science  of  govern- 
ment. The  average  and  quiet  citizen,  shocked  as  he  might 
be  and  grumble  as  he  did  at  the  impudent  plundering  by 
our  masters,  their  contempt  of  public  opinion  and  the  cyni- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  49 

cal  display  of  their  luxury,  would  doubtless  have  confined 
himself  to  grumbling  and  to  calling  for  slow-arriving  thun- 
derbolts to  crush  the  oppressors  who  were  despoiling  him 
had  he  felt  certain  that  the  plunder  would  be  confined  to 
them,  that  his  property  would  be  safe,  at  least,  from  the  at- 
tacks of  those  insignificant,  despicable  but  eminently  dan- 
gerous plunderers  who  became  known  to  the  police  as  com- 
mon criminals.     This,  however,  was  not  so.     After  being 
fla3^ed    by    iniquitous    taxes,  which    he    knew    were    des- 
tined to  add  to  the  stores  of  Tweed,  Connolly  &  Company, 
he  had  every  day  abundant  proof  that  what  the  big  rascals 
left  him,  the  little  ones  would  soon  try,  by  burglary  or  rob- 
bery, to  ravish  from  him,  and  that  they  would  do  it  with 
perfect  immunity,  unterrified  either  by  the  fear  of  present 
arrest  or  of  later  punishment.     The  Mulberry  street  office 
was  divided  into  three  or  four  little  pools,  each  with  its  cli- 
entele of  dependents,  all  of  whom  faithfully  and  immedi- 
ately reported  to  their  patrons  the  result  of  any  little  job 
they  had  been  engaged  in,  handing  over  to  the  representa- 
tive of  the  pool  the  20  per  cent,  of  the  result,  which  was  Head- 
quarters' established  commission.       This  was  the  ordinary 
rate  when  gentlemen  skilled  in  transferring  other  people's 
watches  and  portemonnaies  from  the  pockets  of  their  own- 
ers to  their  own,  or  when  others  who  had  devoted  their  tal- 
ents to  demonstrating  practically  the  enormous  power  of 
the  jimmy  and  wedge  originated  and  carried  out  by  them- 
selves the  operations  peculiar  to  those  claseses  of  industries. 
It  sometimes    happened    that  special    cases    offered,  for 
which    special    terms    were    arranged.      Such    cases    stood 
by    themselves.      They    were    confided    only    to    the  ,  ac- 
knowledged heads  of  the  profession.     Standing  outside  of 
all  recognized  rules,  they  were  treated  apart.     Headquar- 
ters men  were  always  sent  to  the  seat  of  operations  to  prevent 
interference,  and,  in  case  of  need,  to  protect  their  partners. 
Many  a  mysterious  robbery  was  perpetrated  to  which  no  clue 


50  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

was  ever  found;  many  an  anxious  search  was  undertaken 
by  the  bloodhounds  of  the  law  to  find  the  robbers,  that  they 
might  crack  a  bottle  together  and  rejoice  over  the  success 
of  their  operations,  and  sometimes  they  were  joined  by  men 
the  mention  of  whose  names  in  such  company  would  have 
excited  incredulous  and  unbounded  amazement. 

The  gigantic  heavings  of  the  war  were  struggling  to  rest, 
but  the  men  whose  minds  were  luihinged  and  thrown  oflf 
their  balance  by  the  possession  of  large  sums  flowing  from 
transactions,  a  little  irregular,  perhaps,  but  which  the  neces- 
sities of  Government  permitted,  were  endeavoring,  by  any 
means,  to  open  up  new  fountains  of  wealth  in  place  of  those 
which  the  close  of  the  war  had  exhausted. 

One  of  the  resources  presenting  itself  most  naturally  to 
men  in  a  position  to  profit  by  it  was  speculating  with  other 
people's  money,  and  very  naturally  the  result  of  such  specu- 
ation  was  disastrous  in  the  highest  degree.  When  detec- 
tion became  inevitable  the  defaulter  generally  fled,  hoping 
to  find  in  a  foreign  land  safety  from  the  stroke  of  justice 
and  a  shelter  from  the  reproaches  of  his  victims. 

Occasionally,  one  more  resolute,  dreading  flight  as  much 
as  detection,  flung  himself  into  schemes  which,  if  they  failed, 
meant  the  most  hideous  and  utter  ruin,  but  which,  if  they 
succeeded,  rendered  discovery  impossible,  and  made  his  po- 
sition more  solid  than  ever  before.  One  day,  late  in  the  six- 
ties, in  the  parlor  of  a  bank  in  Greenwich  street,  a  gentle- 
man was  anxiously  scanning  the  books  of  the  establishment.  / 
He  alone  in  all  tlie  institution  knew  of  a  secret  which  would 
horrify  his  brother  ofificials  and  carry  desolation  to  scores  of 
homes,  the  first  to  suffer  being  his  own.  Perhaps  had  it 
been  possible  to  exempt  this  one  home,  the  misery  of  the 
others  would  not  have  greatly  afifected  him.  But  suffer- 
ing must  be  kept  from  his  own  house,  and  all  and  any 
means  to  banish  it  would  be  and  must  be  good. 

The  gentleman  in  whose  mind  these  thoughts  were  pass- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  51 

ing  was  the  president  of  the  bank,  who  knew  himself  to  be 
a  defaulter  to  an  enormous  amount,  and  who  was  now  anx- 
iously reflecting  upon  the  means  to  cover  up  his  robberies. 
Fortunately  for  him  he  was  acquainted  with  the  one  man  who 
more  than  any  other  in  all  America  was  able  to  help  him. 
This  was  Capt.  Irving.  The  president  was  a  man  of 
nerve.  He  knew,  as  everybody  else  knew,  the  relations 
in  which  the  police  stood  to  the  the  thieves,  and  he  felt 
that  if  he  could  arrange  to  have  his  own  bank  robbed, 
his  difficulties  would  vanish,  and  his  share  in  the  defal- 
cations be  covered  up. 

Little  time  was  left  to  him  before  the  inevitable  discov- 
ery, but  the  prompt  and  skillful  use  he  made  of  it  to  extri- 
cate himself  from  the  fearful  danger  of  his  position  makes 
one  almost  regret  that  a  man  of  such  resolution  and  such 
opportunities  should  prove  to  the  world  that  high  qualities 
may  exist  when  the  moral  sense  is  entirely  wanting.  Irving 
was  quickly  tal<jen  into  his  confidence,  the  position  explained, 
the  proposition  to  rob  the  bank  broached,  all  possible  co- 
operation in  the  way  of  leaving  safes  unlocked  and  doors 
open,  or  what,  of  course,  amounts  to  the  same  thing,  of  fur- 
nishing keys  and  information  to  open  everything,  promised, 
and  then  Irving  was  asked  if  he  could  find  men  to  carry  the 
job  into  execution.  New  York  in  those  days  was  well  sup- 
plied with  such  artists,  but  the  right  men  to  carry  out  so 
momentous  an  operation  had  to  be  sought.  The  difficulty, 
however,  was  not  great,  and  Irving  promptly  assured  the 
honorable  president  that  he  might  confidently  count  on  the 
right  men  at  the  right  time. 

Among  the  professionals  who  twenty-three  or  four  years 
ago  were  considered  "valuable"  men  at  Police  Headquarters 
were  Mike  Hurley,  Patsey  Conroy  and  Max  Shinburn. 
These  were  the  men  whom  Irving  instantly  determined  to 
employ,  and  whom  he  forthwith  set  about  to  find.  That  not 
being  a  matter  of  any  difficulty,  the  same  night  the  three 


82  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

men  met  Irving  at  his  own  house,  and  were  delighted  over 
the  revelation  he  made  to  them. 

One  would  like  to  know  with  what  sentiment  a  man  oc- 
cupying an  honorable  and  responsible  position,  a  Sunday- 
school  superintendent,  the  head  of  a  great  financial  institu- 
tion, well  known  in  the  money  world  and  respected  in  so- 
ciety, slunk  to  a  midnight  meeting  with  burglars. 

Did  no  feeling  of  shame  crimson  his  face,  no  sinking  of 
disgust  oppress  his  heart,  as  he  slipped  into  a  house,  where, 
although  he  kept  aloof  from  actual  contact  with  the  rufBans, 
the  details  of  an  enormous  crime  of  which  he  was  the  author 
were  debated  and  settled? 

Prudential  reasons  doubtless  kept  him  from  forming  a 
personal  acquaintance  with  his  agents.  The  risk  of  expos- 
ing himself  to  future  blackmail  must  not  be  incurred,  and 
one  may  well  believe  that  he  shrank  from  clasping  the  hands 
of  these  men,  who  were  eagerly  awaiting  him.  Whatever 
were  his  feelings,  his  desperate  position  suffered  no  halting. 
The  storm  was  ready  to  break  at  any  moment.  In  an  in- 
stant he  might  be  a  wretched  fugitive,  with  terror  before  him 
and  infamy  howling  behind.  But  one  way  led  out  of  this 
labyrinth.  He  had  resolutely  planted  his  feet  in  that  way, 
determined  to  tread  it  to  the  end.  He  did  tread  it  to  the 
end,  and  he  came  out  victorious. 

If  the  suspicions  of  any  afterward  pointed  toward  him, 
no  syllable  of  the  suspicions  was  breathed.  Who  dared 
suspect  that  an  honorable  citizen  had  ever,  in  the  dead  of 
night,  crept  like  a  robber  to  a  meeting  of  outlaws,  to  con- 
coct the  details  of  an  outrageous  breach  of  trust,  of  a  crime 
which — none  knew  it  better  than  he — ^Nvould  carry  life-long 
misery  and  suffering  to  the  families  of  nearly  every  man  who 
trusted  him? 

"The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them,"  but  where  does 
the  responsibility  of  its  author  end?  Who  will  ever  say  what 
crimes  may  spring  from  the  one  act  of  wrongdoing,  crimes 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  55 

committed,  it  may  be,  by  persons  who  were  directly  led  into 
them  by  the  consequences  of  an  act  the  perpetrator  of  which 
had  never  heard  of  those  affected  by  it?  How  far  does  the 
responsibility  of  the  wrongdoer  extend?  What  weight  of 
horror  is  he  accumulating  on  his  head? 

Such  questions  may  perhaps  occur  afterward,  when  the 
pleasure  has  been  tasted  and  is  gone,  and  nothing  remains  of 
the  detected  crime  but  the  ruin  it  has  wrought ;  but  in  the  ex- 
citement of  laying  the  plot,  in  the  glamour  which  the  hope 
of  success  casts  over  the  schemer,  they  probably  never  in- 
trude, conscience  is  smothered,  and  he  is  left  to  carry  out 
his  schemes  to  the  end. 

Doubtless  no  such  thoughts  disturbed  the  president,  as  he 
waited  that  night  while  Irving  acted  as  go-between,  carrying 
messages  from  him  to  the  agents  and  from  the  agents  back 
again  to  him.  At  last  the  arrangements  were  made.  Dupli- 
cate keys  of  the  safe  were  to  be  provided,  and  a  way,  to  be 
presently  explained,  was  to  be  left  open  to  each  of  them. 
Whatever  the  robbers  found  in  the  safes  was  to  be  theirs, 
and  the  task  of  getting  it  was  to  be  of  the  easiest.  This,  of 
course,  was  highly  satisfactory  to  the  thieves,  but  something 
more  must  be  prepared  for  the  stockholders  and  the  public. 
Bank  safes  are  not  so  easily  emptied;  there  must  be  the  ap- 
pearance, at  least,  of  great  effort  to  effect  the  robbery,  and 
marks  of  the  effort  must  be  left  behind. 

It  was,  therefore,  settled  that  powerful  tools  were  to  be 
provided,  tools  able  to  tear  open  any  strong-box  in  the  world. 
Such  articles  are  expensive,  and  the  burglars  had  no  money 
to  procure  them.  No  man  who  knows  those  people  will  be 
surprised  at  this,  for,  however  much  money  they  may  ob- 
tain, they  never  have  anything.  It  melts  out  of  their  hands, 
and  they  would  be  themselves  embarrassed  to  say  what  be- 
comes of  it. 

The  president's  first  necessity,  therefore,  was  to  pay  out 
about  a  thousand  dollars  for  the  jimmies,  wedges  and  all  the 
4 


56 


FROM   WALL   STREET   TO   NEWGATE. 


paraphernalia  of  the  burglars'  industry.  This  he  did.  Irving' 
took  cliarge  of  the  money,  and  he  had  far  too  great  an  inter- 
est in  the  scheme  to  suffer  the  cash  to  be  squandered.  The 
agreement  was  that  on  the  following  day  Conroy  should  pre- 
sent himself  at  the  bank  to  hire  a  vacant  basement,  the  roof 
of  which  formed  the  floor  of  the  room  where  the  safes  were 
lodged.  The  president  undertook  to  smooth  any  difhculties 
in  the  way  of  requiring  references,  and  promised  that  he 
should  be  accepted  as  a  tenant. 

This  agreement  was'  punctually  carried  out.  Conroy 
made  his  application,  the  basement  was  granted  to  him,  the 
rent  paid  in  advance  for  the  edification  of  the  clerks,  and  he 
at  once  entered  in  possession.  Hurley  and  Shinburna 
joined  him,  and  the  following  Saturday  they  removed  so 
much  of  the  ceiling  that  but  a  few  minutes'  work  was  re- 
quired to  complete  a  hole  which  should  serve  as  a  doorway 
to  the  vaults  above  when  the  bank  closed  in  the  evening. 


MACHINE  FOR   WEIGHING   GOLD. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CHEATED    VISIONS  AND  VANISHED  HOPES. 

Saturday  night  was  the  time  chosen  to  get  into  the  bank, 
and  the  plunderers  were  to  remain  there  until  Sunday,  The 
members  of  Irving's  ring  were  to  keep  watch  to  prevent  any 
officious  interference  from  passers-by  or  from  ward  police- 
men. Carriages  were  to  be  in  waiting  at  some  convenient 
place  on  Sunday  morning,  and  when  the  men  inside  received 
a  signal  from  their  police  accomplices  on  the  outside,  they 
were  to  leave  the  bank,  abandoning  their  tools,  and  carry- 
ing away  nothing  but  the  money  and  the  securities  they  had 
stolen.  So  far,  the  way  was  plain ;  the  keys  had  long  before 
been  prepared,  tested  and  found  to  work  properly;  full  in- 
structions were  given  as  to  the  way  to  use  them,  but  the  way 
inside  was  not  yet  open, 

A  night  watchman  was  employed  on  the  premises,  and  he, 
of  course,  was  to  be  got  rid  of.  Little  ceremony  was  to  be 
used  in  treating  him.  He  was  to  be  seized,  overcome  by  any 
means,  bound,  gagged  and  rendered  helpless  until  Monday, 
and  the  fact  that  he  always  passed  Sunday  in  the  bank,  pre- 
vented any  remark  at  home  upon  his  continued  absence. 
The  details  of  the  plot  were  thus  satisfactorily  settled,  and  at 
a  late  hour  the  conspirators  separated. 

In  the  early  morning  of  that  day  the  three  burglars  were 
standing  in  the  cellar  to  which  they  had  lowered  their  booty, 
waiting  for  the  signal  to  come  out.  At  last  it  was  given, 
when  the  precious  trio  slipped  out,  carrying  their  precious 

(57) 


58  IrnOM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

bags.  A  covered  carriage  w-as  posted  in  an  adjoiiii-g  street, 
into  which  the  whole  party  entered,  flurried  and  excited,  and 
rapidly  drove  to  Irving's  residence.  There  the  contents  of 
the  bags  were  carefully  examined.  The  actual  cash  was 
easily  disposed  of,  but  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  bonds? 

The  arrangement  finally  agreed  upon,  to  be  detailed  pres- 
ently, shows  that  if  there  be  circumstances  in  which  a  little 
learning  is  a  dangerous  thing,  one  of  them  is  not  just  after 
the  perpetration  of  a  gigantic  burglary. 

The  Monday  following  its  execution  confusion  and  amaze- 
ment reigned  in  the  bank.  The  clerks  on  their  arrival  were 
astounded  to  find  the  safe  doors  wide  open,  torn  and  smashed 
by  the  tools  which  lay  scattered  over  the  floor,  and  the  night 
watchman,  gagged  and  bound,  was  discovered,  nearly  dead, 
in  a  neighboring  room.  One  of  the  clerks  jumped  into  a 
cab  and  rushed  to  Police  Headquarters  in  Mulberry  street 
to  report  the  robbery.  Irving  was  sitting  in  his  office,  busy 
with  the  night  reports,  when  the  messenger  was  introduced 
to  tell  of  the  bank's  calamity. 

The  excellent  chief  listened  with  breathless  attention,  and 
was  naturally  horror-struck  at  the  perpetration  of  such  a 
crime.  Calling  a  couple  of  his  trusted  sleuths,  he  hastily 
communicated  the  surprising  news,  and  the  three  hurried 
with  the  clerk  back  to  Greenwich  street.  Arrived  there  they 
minutely  examined  the  premises,  and  gave  it  as  their  opin- 
ion, judging  from  the  style  of  the  work  and  from  the  tools 
which  lay  around,  that  the  burglary  had  been  committed  by 
a  well-known  burglar  named  Harry  Penrose,  and  that  the 
night  watchman,  whom  they  immediately  placed  under  ar- 
rest, must  have  been  his  accomplice. 

The  president  had  sent  word  to  the  bank  that  he  was  un- 
well, and  would  not  be  able  to  attend  to  business  that  day, 
but  the  terrible  news  was  immediately  telegraphed  to  him, 
and,  in  spite  of  his  illness,  he  hurried  to  town.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  describe  his  astonishment  and  distress  at  the  sight 


VIA  THE   PRIMROSE  WAY.  59 

which  met  his  eyes.  In  the  presence  of  the  clerks  he  held 
anxious  consultations  with  the  detectives,  who  assured  him 
that  they  had  already  taken  the  first  steps  to  unravel  the  mys- 
tery, and  that  every  possible  effort  would  be  made  to  discover 
the  criminals.  In  the  privacy  of  his  own  office  he  explained 
to  the  reporters  that  he  had  left  in  the  bank  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  cash  and  bonds,  every  farthing  of  which 
had  disappeared. 

As  soon  as  the  news  was  published  the  excitement  among 
the  depositors  and  the  stockholders  of  the  bank  was,  of 
course,  immense.  A  run  set  in,  which  the  directors  by  the 
help  of  friends  and  of  their  own  private  resources  were  able 
to  meet,  but  the  Wall  street  appreciation  of  the  calamity  was 
shown  in  the  drop  in  value  of  the  bank's  stock  from  130 
to  40. 

I  repeat,  a  little  learning  is  a  dangerous  thing.  Much 
knowledge  is  not  to  be  looked  for  among  men  who  engage 
in  such  crimes,  but  one  would  fancy  that  the  everyday  expe- 
rience of  Irving  and  his  people  would  have  given  them  some 
idea  of  financial  business.  The  fact  is,  they  were,  if  possible, 
more  ignorant  than  their  felonious  partners.  The  financial 
ideas  of  the  latter  scarcely  went  further  than  "making  cheap 
pennyworths  of  their  plunder,  giving  to  courtesans  and  liv- 
ing like  lords  till  all  be  gone,"  so  that  negotiating  the  sale  of 
bonds  was  a  mystery  far  too  high  for  them — something 
which  they  could  never  hope  to  attain  to.  But  the  company 
included  one  man  who  was  a  rare  exception  to  the  ordinary 
rule  of  such  society.  This  was  Max  Shinbume,  a  German, 
a  man  of  considerable  education,  who,  in  some  inexplicable 
\.ay,  had  fallen  so  far  from  honor  and  respectability  that 
v/Iicn  he  saw  a  thief  he  "consented  unto  him." 

How  is  it  that  such  men  are  often  found  in  the  ranks  of 
professional  criminals?  They  would  probably  have  difficulty 
to  explain  it  themselves.  A  want  of  savoir  faire,  the  fact 
that  they  have  never  been  taught  to  make  a  practical  use  oi 


60  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

their  acquirements,  the  pressure  of  temptation  at  a  critical 
moment,  the  absence,  possibly,  from  harm,  leading  to  the 
hope  of  immunity — all,  perhaps,  enter  into  the  explanation  of 
the  secret  promptings  which  have  led  to  the  first  false  step, 
to  the  first  planting  of  the  feet  in  the  path  which  leads  to  de- 
struction. Once  the  step  is  taken,  to  retrace  it  seems  impos- 
sible. The  line  which  society  draws,  and  which  it  proclaims 
no  man  shall  overstep  without  punishment,  may  be  ap- 
proached  very  closely,  but  once  on  the  wrong  side,  once  the 
fateful  step  is  taken,  the  act  is  irretrievable;  to  attempt  to  re- 
trace it  is  to  attempt  to  undo  the  past;  it  is  all  but  impos- 
sible. 

Thus  probably  it  is  that  the  fall  of  an  educated  man  is  more 
hopeless  than  that  of  one  who  knows  no  better.  A  carpenter 
or  a  blacksmith  who  has  got  himself  in  a  tangle  has  only  to 
move  to  another  town,  and  if  he  shakes  oflF  perverted 
thoughts  and  perverted  influences,  he  is  not  much  worse  off 
than  before.  He  has  kept  his  trade,  and  his  trade  will  keep 
him. 

Nobody  is  going  to  inquire  about  a  workman  who  can 
do  his  work.  The  employer  requires  nothing  more  than  that 
the  work  be  done,  and  if  it  be  done  he  neither  thinks  nor 
cares  anything  more  about  either  it  or  the  worker. 

With  the  educated  man  the  case  is  different.  The  senti- 
ments of  the  class  he  belongs  to  are  less  yielding,  the  fineness 
of  his  own  feelings  has  been  too  deeply  wounded,  and  when 
he  has  stabbed  his  reputation,  he  is  apt,  foolishly,  of  course, 
to  fling  the  rest  of  his  respectability  after  it. 

With  qualities  and  advantages  which  might  have  fitted 
him  for  a  useful  and  honorable  position  in  life,  Shinburne 
was  at  less  than  30  years  of  age  the  companion  of  outcasts. 
But  whatever  his  moral  failings,  his  knowledge  remained, 
and  it  was  for  him,  at  least,  to  be  valuable. 

To  get  rid  of  the  bonds  in  America  was  impossible,  ex- 
cept by  sacrificing  them  to  a  stolen  goods  receiver,  who 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  Y/AY.  61 

would  have  given  but  a  small  percentage  of  their  value. 

A  steamer  was  to  sail  for  Europe  that  day,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  Shinburne  should  go  by  her,  with  one  of  the 
other  robbers  as  company,  sell  the  bonds  before  the  news  of 
the  robbery  could  get  across  the  ocean,  then  return  and 
fairly  divide  the  proceeds. 

This  was  the  arrangement,  but  Shinburne  had  already  be- 
gun to  have  other  dreams  and  other  ambitions.  He  saw  a 
chance  to  restore  himself,  or,  at  least,  to  snatch  at  a  position 
which  would  give  him  weight  to  crush  down  sinister  reports 
or  envious  whisperings,  and  he  determined  forthwith  to  seize 
it.  What  the  bank  president  had  done  to  save  himself  from 
infamy,  Shinburne  would  do  to  recover  himself  from  in- 
famy. It  can  be,  therefore,  easily  understood  that  he  ac- 
cepted without  hesitation  the  other's  proposal. 

The  steamer  did  not  sail  until  noon.  There  was,  there- 
fore, plenty  of  time  to  make  preparationSj^  and,  besides,  he  had 
a  little  private  business  to  attend  to.  Leaving  the  securities 
in  Irving's  charge,  with  a  promise  to  meet  the  party  at  ii, 
he  took  his  share  of  the  cash  and  departed. 

Some  time  before  this,  with  a  skill  and  forethought  rarely 
to  be  found  in  the  class  he  then  belonged  to,  he  had  bought 
some  building  lots  near  the  park.  Fortunate,  indeed,  the 
speculation  eventually  proved  to  be.  In  the  mean  time,  plac- 
ing his  lots  in  the  hands  of  a  responsible  agent,  and  taking 
drafts  on  Europe  for  his  money,  he  rapidly  made  the  little 
preparation  he  needed,  and  at  ii  joined  his  party,  there  to 
receive  nearly  $200,000  in  bonds,  and  to  set  out  with  Mike 
Hurley  for  the  steamer. 

After  hurried  parting  injunctions  from  the  Headquarters 
men,  the  two  travelers,  accompanied  by  Conroy,  to  see  them 
ofif,  were  rapidly  driven  to  the  steamer.  Punctually  to  the 
hour  the  hawsers  were  cast  ofT,  and  with  barely  time  to  say 
good-bye  the  cronies  parted.  A  moment  after  the  screw  be- 
gan to  turn,  and  the  Cunarder's  bow  pointed  toward  England. 


62  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

Arrived  in  Liverpool,  the  pair  proceeded  at  once  to  Lon- 
don. Hurley,  who  was  as  ignorant  of  foreign  travel  as  of 
everything  else,  was  easily  tricked  by  some  tale  of  no  even- 
ing trains  for  the  Continent.  Shinburne  plied  him  well  with 
liquor,  taking  care  to  mix  the  bottles,  and  when  he  had  got 
him  helplessly  drunk  he  took  the  bonds  and  with  his  little 
luggage  slipped  quietly  off  to  the  Continent,  never  to  see 
his  dupe  or  his  New  York  friends  again. 

He  went  to  Germanjy,  called  himself  "Count"  Shinburne, 
bought  an  estate  and  began  to  exercise  large  hospitality  to- 
ward his  neighbors. 

No  man  on  all  the  length  of  the  Rhine  was  so  popular  as 
he.  No  man's  house  and  table,  horses  and  gardens  were  so 
praised  as  his.  In  the  eyes  of  the  beggar  nobles  of  the  Fa- 
therland the  man  who  could  give  such  dinners  and  in  such 
succession,  must  belong  to  the  choice  members  of  the  human 
race.  Day  by  day  Max's  position  grew  more  solid.  No 
breath  was  ever  whispered  against  him,  and  with  a  little  pru- 
dence he  might  have  kept  up  his  state  and  died  in  the  odor 
of  sanctity.  But  the  taste  of  grandeur  was  too  sweet,  the 
incense  of  his  little  world's  flattery  too  precious  to  run  the 
smallest  risk  of  losing  it.  His  display  exceeded  his  means, 
but  for  nothing  in  the  world  would  he  have  curtailed  it. 

Matters  were  in  this  way  until  he  awoke  one  day  to  find  his 
account  overdrawn  on  his  bankers.  Then  it  was  that  lie 
began  to  remember  his  operation  in  Greenwich  street,  and  he 
seems  to  have  thought  that  if  he  succeeded  in  New  York, 
surely  nothing  could  stand  in  his  way  in  some  sleepy  town 
in  Europe. 

He  went  to  Brussels  prospecting,  and  soon  pitched  upon 
an  establishment  which  he  thought  likely  to  reward  his  in- 
dustry. But  the  result  showed  that  to  walk  into  a  bank 
when  the  way  was  left  open,  with  the  authorities  anxious  to 
see  him  there,  and  to  force  his  way  in  when  the  entrance  was 
jealously  barred  with  the  guardians  determined  he  should 


"WITH   HORROR   THE  SISTERS   SAW  THE   COUNTESS   AIRINO 
THE    HISTORIC    BRACELET.'— Page    68, 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  63 

Stay  out,  were  two  very  different  things.  He  made  the  at- 
tempt, was  arrested  and  sentenced  to  sixteen  years'  impris- 
onment. His  German  friends  heard  of  his  mishap,  and  his 
glory  faded  like  the  early  dew. 

Naturally,  every  one  thought  that  the  count's  career  had 
closed,  that  the  star  of  his  fate  had  declined,  that  the  bars  of 
his  prison  house  were  about  him  forever.  They  were 
greatly  mistaken.  After  some  twelve  or  thirteen  years  he 
succeeded  in  getting  a  pardon  and  managed  to  make  his 
way  to  America.  His  first  visit  was  to  the  agents  in  whose 
hands  he  had  left  the  management  of  his  park  lots.  He  went 
into  their  office,  not  knowing  whether  or  not  he  was  a  pau- 
per. He  came  out  knowing  himself  to  be  nearly  a  million- 
aire. 

During  the  almost  twenty  years  of  his  absence  his  lots 
had  increased  enormously  in  value.  Once  more  he  was  a 
rich  man,  once  more  he  might  emerge  from  his  eclipse  and 
become  a  power  of  a  certain  kind  in  the  class  of  society  he 
could  get  access  to,  but  his  experience  had  taught  him  some- 
thing. His  advancing  years  had  left  him  but  little  desire 
for  display.  He  came  back  to  a  world  which  knew  him  not: 
and  few  of  those  who  notice  a  benevolent-looking  old 
gentleman,  who  often  passes  an  afternoon  in  upper 
Broadway,  suspect  that  under  an  assumed  name  he  hides 
the  identity  of  Max  Shinbume,  the  bank  burglar. 

When  Hurley  awoke  from  his  drunken  fit  in  London  and 
recognized  that  his  partner  had  both  robbed  and  deserted 
him,  he  felt  that  his  mission  was  over,  and  that  nothing  re- 
mained but  to  return  at  once  to  America.  Loud  and  long 
and  wrathful  were  the  complaints  over  Shinburne's  treach- 
ery. Whatever  he  did  to  others,  all  felt  that  his  dealings 
with  them  ought  to  have  been  "on  the  square,"  but  there 
was  no  help  for  it.  He  had  disappeared,  and  faint,  indeed, 
was  the  chance  that  they  would  ever  see  him  again.  Tlie  suc- 
cess of  the  crime,  so  far  as  they  were  concerned,  had,  after 


64 


FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


all,  been  a  failure.  Vanished  hopes  and  cheated  visions  were 
their  share,  instead  of  the  wealth  they  had  anticipated,  and  in 
their  devouring  rage  they  tried  to  console  themselves  with 
the  thought  of  what  they  would  do  to  him  if  they  ever  met 
Shinbume. 

The  only  man  who  had  any  real  success  from  the  scheme 
was  the  president.  Exposure  had  become  impossible.  He 
had  taken  good  care  not  to  leave  too  much  in  the  safes  for 
his  accomplices,  and  he  was  henceforth  a  wealthy  man.  The 
bank,  desperately  shaken  by  the  robbery,  fell  so  greatly  in 
the  esteem  of  the  public  that  not  long  after  it  failed.  The 
president  gave  up  banking,  and  began  to  speculate  in  real  es- 
tate. He  increased  in  riches  and  prospered  in  the  world. 
He  called  his  lands  after  his  own  name.  He  thought  his 
house  would  continue  forever,  and  men  praised  him,  be- 
cause he  did  well  to  himself.  He  settled  his  children  com- 
fortably in  life,  and  when  he  died,  not  so  very  long  ago, 
all  felt  that  the  world  was  better  because  he  had  lived  in  it, 
and  that,  although  their  loss  vv'hen  he  was  taken  was  heavy, 
it  was,  nevertheless,  his  great  gain. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

GILDED  SIRS  WHO  ARE  NOT  WISE. 

After  a  pleasant  voyage  the  Russia  arrived,  and  one  May 
morning  I  walked  into  the  Northwestern  Railway  station  in 
Liverpool  to  take  the  train  for  London.  The  bonds  were 
in  a  little  handbag,  and  I  was  free  to  look  around.  Every- 
thing was  novel  and  strange,  and  all  things  told  me  I  was  in 
a  foreign  land.  I  had,  like  most  young  people,  a  particularly 
good  opinion  of  myself  and  something  of  an  idea  as  to  my 
own  importance. 

We  arrived  in  London  amid  a  drizzling  rain,  and  I  was 
much  impressed  with  the  mighty  roar  of  the  traffic  in  the 
streets.  We  drove  to  Langham  place,  where  I  had  a  regu- 
lar English  tea,  and  liked  it  immensely,  too.  The  next  night 
I  left  Victoria  Station  for  Dover,  and  crossing  the  Channel 
to  Ostend,  went  through  to  Brussels  and  stopped  there,  hav- 
ing wanted,  ever  since  boyhood,  to  visit  the  field  of  Water- 
loo. I  looked  through  the  city  that  day,  visiting  the  famous 
City  Hall  and  one  of  the  art  galleries.  Retiring  early  I  arose 
early  and  drove  out  to  the  plain  immortalized  by  the  giant 
struggle  of  those  valiant  hosts,  but  did  not  purchase  any  of 
the  relics  which  were  freely  offered.  These  have  been  sold 
by  shiploads  to  two  generations  of  visitors.  Returning  to 
Brussels,  I  paid  my  bill  at  the  Hotel  de  Paris,  and  was  amused 
over  the  inventiveness  of  the  proprietor  in  making  charges 
— towels,  candles,  soap,  attendance,  paper,  envelopes,  being 
among  them. 

(65) 


36  PROM   WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Going  to  the  station  I  bought  my  ticket  for  Frankfort — • 
that  old  town  I  was  destined  to  see  so  much  of  during  the 
next  few  years.  On  my  journey  I  would  pass  through  Co- 
logne, and  from  there  the  railway  skirts  the  bank  of  the 
Rhine.  This  being  my  first  visit  to  Europe,  I  was  intensely 
curious  to  see  everything,  especially  the  Cathedral  at  Co- 
logne, and  was  eager  to  linger  a  few  days  along  the  banks  of 
the  Rhine.  But  1  was  more  eager  to  complete  the  bond  ne- 
gotiations, and  wisely  resolved  to  go  direct  to  Frankfort, 
sell  the  bonds,  then,  with  the  money  in  my  pocket  and  all 
anxiety  over,  I  would  l)e  in  a  state  of  mind  to  enjoy  a  short 
holiday. 

I  traveled  through  Belgium  and  some  parts  of  Germany 
by  daylight,  and  was,  as  most  Americans  are  who  travel  on 
the  Continent,  shocked  to  see  the  employment  of 
women.  Soon  after  leaving  Brussels  I  saw  the,  to  me,  novel 
sight  of  a  number  of  women  shoveling  coal,  handling  the 
shovel  like  men.  In  other  places  I  saw  them  laboring  in  the 
brick  yards,  digging  and  wheeling  clay,  and  eveiywhere  they 
were  to  be  seen  working  at  men's  work  in  the  fields. 

A  traveler  in  my  compartment  proved  a  most  entertain- 
ing companion.  He  described  himself  to  me  as  one  who 
"went  about  pottering  over  a  lot  of  antiquities  and  fooling 
around  generally." 

But  my  friend,  the  pottering  old  antiquary,  gave  me  some- 
thing of  a  surprise.  At  Chalours  all  of  our  fellow  travelers 
in  the  compartment  left  us.  Two  of  them  were  voluble 
French  women,  and  they  kept  it  up  with  amazing  energy 
for  the  six  hours  from  Brussels  to  Chalours.  At  every  un- 
usual swaying  of  the  car  there  would  be  a  volley  of  "Mon 
Dieus!"  and  ear-piercing  exclamations,  and  it  was  certainly 
a  relief  when  they  left. 

Bringing  out  a  box  of  cigars,  and  my  companion  produc- 
ing a  flask  of  wine,  we  soon  became  confidential.  Presently, 
to  my  great  amusement,  my  Old  Antiquary,  warmed  by  the 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  67 

wine,  confided  to  me  that  he  was  a  detective  police  officer 
and  chief  of  the  secret  service  at  Antwerp,  that  he  was  then 
working  on  a  famous  case,  and  had  been  shadowing  one  of 
the  ladies  who  had  journeyed  with  us  from  Brussels.  Before 
leaving  Brussels,  he  had  discovered  his  quarry  was  to  quit 
the  train,  and  as  he  had  to  go  on  to  Mayence,  he  had  turned 
the  business  over  to  a  confederate. 

I  was  young,  and  no  doubt  he  thought  me  innocent;  cer- 
tainly he  did  not  withhold  his  confidence.  This  is  the  case 
he  was  investigating: 

There  was  a  wealthy  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Van  Tromp 
living  in  Antwerp,  a  widower,  70  years  of  age,  the  father  of 
a  grown-up  family,  and  many  times  a  grandfather.     It  had 
been   his  custom  to  go   to   Baden-Baden   every   Summer, 
spending  money  freely  both  in  pleasure  and  in  the  famous 
gambling  resorts  there.     The  last  time  he  had  met  a  woman, 
the  Countess  Winzerode,  one  of  the  many  adventuresses  to 
be  found  there,  and  speedily  became  infatuated.    This  Van 
Tromp  was  a  descendant  of  old  Admiral  \^an  Tromp,  who, 
in  the  mighty  life-and-death  struggle  between  Holland  and 
Spain,  and  in  the  two  wars  with  England,  the  first  when 
Cromwell  ruled,  the  second  when  the  Second  Charles  was  on 
the  throne,  held  up  the  fame  and  glory  of  Holland.     In  one 
case  he  swept  the  proud  navies  of  Spain  from  the  seas  and 
carried  the  Dutch  flag  around  the  world.     In  the  other,  he 
was  only  vanquished  after  stubborn  sea-fights  lasting  for 
days,  and  only  ended  then  because  the  stout  admiral  lay  on 
his  deck  with  an  English  bullet  in  his  heart.      This  Van 
Tromp  was  the  heir  of  the  fame  and  the  wealth  of  all  the  Van 
Tromps,  and  both  had  gone  on  accumulating  for  300  years. 
The  self-styled  Countess  knew  all  this,  and,  as  the  sequel 
shows,  knew  her  man.     She  was  40,  had  been  beautiful,  was 
still  comely,  with  good  figure,  fair-haired,  but  with  steel-blue 
eyes.     She  spoke  many  languages  and  had  dwelt  in  every 
land  from  Petersburg  to  Paris.     It  is  needless  to  tell  how 


68  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

they  first  met  or  of  the  intimacy  that  sprang  up  between 
them,  but  I  will  merely  say  in  passing-  that  within  five  days 
of  their  first  meeting  he  had  given  her  a  magnificent  dia- 
mond bracelet,  which  had  been  in  his  family  more  than  a 
century.  1  his  alarmed  his  two  daughters,  who  were  terrified 
at  the  mere  suspicion  that  their  father  was  in  earnest,  and 
might  possibly  p^resent  them  with  a  stepmother,  above  all,  a 
comparatively  young  stepmother,  and,  so  far  as  physique 
went,  a  magnificent  animal,  with  promise  of  a  long  life — so 
long  that  her  rights  of  dower  would  make  a  cut  in  the  Van 
Tromp  estates  and  treasures,  which  might  well  cause  the  old 
Admiral  to  rouse  himself  from  his  three-century  sleep  in 
Dordrecht  Church  and  once  more  walk  these  glimpses  of 
the  moon  in  protest  of  the  sacrilege.  Then  the  scandal  of  a 
Countess-adventuress  becoming  a  Van  Tromp — head  of  that 
family,  too!  They  knew  of  his  penchant  for  the  Countess, 
and  cared  nothing  for  it,  until_,  with  a  feeling  akin  to  horror 
they  observed  at  the  dress  ball  one  night  the  Countess  airing 
the  historic  bracelet.  It  would  require  a  volume  to  relate 
the  scenes  that  followed  in  the  Van  Tromp  domicile  on  thit 
paralyzing  discovery;  but  prayers,  tears  and  histrionic 
touches  were  all  met  by  the  stolid  reply  of  Van  Tromp:  "I 
please  myself." 

As  a  last  resort  the  daughters  appealed  to  the  Countess, 
offering  all  their  ready  cash  and  a  pension  if  she  would  onlv 
disappear.  But  visions  of  the  Van  Tromp  diamonds  and 
of  the  Van  Tromp  bank  account  were  in  her  head  and  she 
was  deaf  to  every  appeal .  In  fact,  she  despised  these  heavy, 
matter-of-fact  Dutch  ladies,  and  rather  gloried  to  think  that 
she  would  soon  be  the  female  head  of  the  Van  Tromp  house 
and  stepmother  to  these  two  highly  respectable  dames,  who 
would  perforce  have  to  live  in  her  shadow.  But  then,  of 
course,  the  Countess  was  a  woman,  and  it  is  to  be  feared 
that  even  good  women  love  to  triumph  over  others.  She, 
of  course,  could  have  no  love  for  this  portly  old  gentleman 


VTA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  W 

of  seventy.  But  it  is  pitiful  to  think  he  was  madly  infatu- 
ated. The  poor  old  man,  in  spite  of  his  unromantic  appear- 
ance, had  warm  blood  in  his  veins  and  plenty  of  romance  in 
his  heart.  At  last,  in  spite  of  gossip  and  opposition,  thev 
were  married,  and  then,  instead  of  settling  down,  as  the 
happy  groom  had  hoped,  to  a  life  of  wedded  bliss  in  one  of 
his  country  houses  at  Dordrecht,  Lady  Van  Tromp  insisted 
on  spending  her  honeymoon  in  Paris.  There  they  went, 
and  the  very  day  of  their  arrival  the  bride  resumed  a  liaison 
with  a  beggarly  count,  who,  not  being  an  actual  criminal,  yet 
was  written  black  enough  in  the  books  of  the  Paris  police, 
and  for  whom  the  Countess  had  as  warm  an  admiration  as 
one  of  her  cold,  calculating  nature  was  capable  of  feeling. 

Van  Tromp  speedily  found  his  dream  of  bliss  blown  to 
the  winds,  but  he  was  not  so  blind  as  not  to  see  that  his  wife 
not  only  did  not  love  him,  but  was  false  to  him  as  well. 
Poor  old  Van  Tromp  felt  he  had  made  his  last  throw  for 
happiness,  and  hoping  against  hope,  dreamed  she  in  time 
would  learn  to  appreciate  his  devotion  and  would  love  him, 
and  so  tried  to  persuade  himself  of  her  truth.  The  first  an- 
niversary' of  the  marriage  found  them  at  Baden-Baden,  and 
there  the  unhappy  husband,  thinking  to  give  his  wife  a  pleas- 
ant surprise,  entered  her  chamber  at  an  unusual  hour  bear- 
ing a  diamond  necklace  for  a  present,  and  found  her  in  a  po- 
sition which  could  no  longer  leave  any  doubt  as  to  her  faith- 
lessness. Seizing  a  chair  he  felled  her  companion,  who 
never  stirred  again ;  but  the  shock  was  too  great  for  the  hus- 
band, who  himself  fell  to  the  floor  and  instantly  expired — 
the  doctors  said  of  heart  disease,  and  I  think  they  were 
right.  This  event  was  only  a  few  weeks  old.  The  will  had 
been  read,  and  it  was  found  that  he  had  literally  left  every- 
thing "to  my  wife,  Elizabeth." 

Here  my  friend,  the  chief  of  police  and  a  distant  relative 
of  Van  Tromp,  came  to  the  front,  determined  quietly  on  his 
own  account  to  investigate  Lady  Van  Tromp.     He  found  this 


70  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

last  was  at  least  her  third  venture  on  the  stormy  sea  of  matri- 
mony. He  had  a  fancy  that  some  one  of  her  husbands  might 
still  be  living  and  undiscovered.  If  this  could  be  proved, 
then  her  marriage  to  Van  Tromp  was  no  marriage,  and  the 
ducats,  dollars  and  diamonds  bequeathed  by  Van  Tromp  to 
"my  wife,  Elizabeth,"  would  instantly  melt  into  air — into  very 
thin  air,  so  far  as  the  Countess  was  concerned;  provided,  of 
course,  they  had  not  actually  passed  into  her  clutches.  In 
fact,  they  were  legally  hers,  for  the  will  had  been  admitted 
to  probate.  Those  of  the  family  objecting  could  offer  no 
valid  opposition,  and  she  had  been  put  in  possession,  but,  by 
a  strange  neglect  on  her  part,  left  everything  intact,  save  a 
deposit  of  300,000  gulden  in  the  Bank  of  Amsterdam,  which 
she  secured  and  set  out  for  Naples  with  a  new  lover. 

The  detective — whom  I  will  call  Amstel — discovered  that 
she  had  first  been  married  when  only  15  years  old  to  a 
young  Swiss  in  Geneva,  who  soon  left  her  and  fled  to  Amer- 
ica. He  had  subsequently  returned  to  Europe,  but  Amstel 
was  unable  to  discover  his  whereabouts  or  if  he  was 
living.  He  suspected  that  the  Swiss  was  not  only  alive  but 
in  communication  with  the  Countess,  and  that  she,  in  fact, 
might  be  his  legal  wife.  He  had  followed  the  Countess  from 
Naples  to  Paris.  There  she  left  her  lover  and  was  now  on  her 
way  to  Nuremberg,  as  Amstel  believed,  to  meet  her  first  hus- 
band, but  she  had  arranged  to  remain  a  few  days  with  some 
old  friends  of  hers.  Every  movement  she  made  there  would 
be  watched,  while  Amstel,  going  on  to  Cologne  to  look  up 
some  clues,  intended  to  wait  there  until  informed  that  she 
had  departed,  and  when  the  train  arrived  at  Cologne  he  pro- 
posed to  enter  it  and  follow  my  lady  on,  hoping  to  witne.ss 
a  meeting  between  her  and  the  much  hoped-for  husband. 
Happily  we  had  arrived  at  Cologne  at  this  point  in  the  story, 
and  as  Amstel  was  to  remain  here  we  had  to  say  good-bye; 
but  for  the  whole  twenty  minutes  of  my  stay  we  walked  up 
and  down  the  platform  talking  eagerly  of  the  case.    I  had  be- 


LONDON  POLICEMAN.— ST.  paul's  in  distance. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY. 


73 


come  much  interested,  so  deeply,  indeed,  that  had  I  had  lei- 
sure I  certainly  should  have  turned  amateur  detective  and 
joined  Amstel. 

The  train  started,  and,  promising  to  write  me  in  New  York 
the  outcome  of  the  case,  we  shook  hands  warmly  and  parted. 
He  wrote  me  twice,  and  the  following-  year  I  returned  to 
Europe  and  met  Amstel  at  Brussels.  We  had  a  very  delight- 
ful time  together,  during  which  he  told  me  the  sequel  of  the 
Van  Tromp  episode.  Instead  of  one,  the  Countess  had  two 
husbands  living;  but  the  Van  Tromps  preferred  to  buy  off 
the  woman  at  a  good  round  sum  rather  than  have  a  public 
scandal. 

Amstel  interviewed  the  Countess,  and  gave  her  the  choice 
between  arrest  and  a  full  release  of  all  claims  on  the  Van 
Tromp  property  for  the  sum  of  100,000  gulden.  She  made 
a  hard  fight,  but  at  last  gave  in  gracefully.  But  my  chapter 
has  grown  too  long  already,  and  I  will  close  it  with  the  re- 
mark that  I  myself  met  the  lady  at  Wiesbaden  in  1871,  and 
became  acquainted  with  the  brilliant  adventuress.  She  will 
appear  again  in  the  sequel. 

5 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   MERRY   SUMMER  OVER  AND  NO  HARVEST  STORED. 

From  Cologne  to  Frankfort  is  about  140  miles,  and  swiftly 
our  train  sped  along  up  the  Rhine — the  lovely  stream  about 
which  poets  have  raved  for  twenty  generations.  What  classic 
ground!  What  scenes  have  its  waters  reflected,  its  moun- 
tains looked  upon!  In  the  old  days  its  rolling  floods  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  stout 'Roman  heart.  More  than 
one  army,  carrying  with  it  the  hearts  of  the  Roman  world, 
had  crossed  that  river  and  plunged  into  the  unknown  for- 
ests beyond,  only  to  go  down  in  the  shock  of  conflict  with 
the  brave  but  barbarian  foe,  leaving  not  one  solitary  survivor 
to  carry  back  tidings  to  Rome  of  the  fate  of  her  army.  And 
down  through  all  the  linked  centuries  the  history  of  the 
Rhine  has  been  the  history  of  giant  armies  marching  against 
each  other,  and  of  brothers  slaughtering  brothers.  To-day 
the  plains  of  Germany  and  France  bear  a  million  of  armed 
men,  ranged  face  to  face,  with  only  the  Rhine  between,  eager- 
ly awaiting  the  signal  to  pour  a  deadly  rain  on  each  other. 
And  for  what? 

The  last  face  that  I  saw  at  the  Cologne  station  Vv^as  that  of 
Amstel,  lit  up  with  smiles  as  he  waved  his  hand  in  adieu. 
Sitting  cozily  in  the  corner  of  the  carriage,  eager  to  see  all 
that  was  to  be  seen,  I  found,  as  all  tourists  do,  much  to  charm 
and  delight.  But  my  thoughts  were  on  the  bonds  I  had  to 
sell,  and  I  was  glad  enough  when  at  5  o'clock  our  train  drew 
into  the  depot  at  Frankfort. 


t'ROM  WALL  STRiEET  TO  NEWGATE.  75 

Alighting  I  took  a  cab  and  drove  to  the  Hotel  Landsberg, 
and,  although  tired,  the  scenes  and  surroundings  were  too 
novel  for  me  to  think  of  sleep.  So  I  dined  and  went  out  to 
view  the  city,  but  as  I  will  have  occasion  to  refer  to  the  place 
again,  I  will  leave  any  description  of  it  until  another  chap- 
ter. 

In  London  there  was  an  American  banking  house  that 
has  since  failed,  but  which  at  this  time  was  doing  a  large  bus- 
iness in  the  way  of  issuing  letters  of  credit.  The  firm  was 
patronized  chiefly  by  Americans.  It  issued  credits,  or  letters 
of  credit,  without  inquiry^  to  any  one  applying  for  them. 
While  in  London  I  called  at  their  office,  449  Strand,  and  pay- 
ing $750  was  given  a  credit  for  £150,  which  I  took  under 
an  assumed  name.  I  wanted  this  letter  to  serve  as  an  intro- 
duction to  some  of  the  bankers  at  Frankfort,  and  to  open 
the  way  for  the  negotiation  of  the  bonds.  The  Frankfort 
correspondents  of  the  London  firm  were  Kraut,  Lautner  & 
Co.,  on  the  Gallowsgasse.  The  next  morning  I  repaired  to 
the  office  of  this  firm,  and  producing  my  letter  was  very  cor- 
dially received,  and  invited  to  make  my  headquarters  in  their 
office  during  my  stay  at  Frankfort,  which  for  the  next  day  or 
two  I  did.  However,  I  called  on  several  other  bankers,  also 
feeling  the  way,  and  finally  selected  the  firm  of  Murpurgo  & 
Wiesweller,  bankers  widely  known  and  of  enormous  wealth. 
I  had  several  talks  with  Murpurgo,  and  told  him  I  was  ar- 
ranging to  purchase  a  number  of  copper  mines  in  Austria, 
and  if  the  deal  was  closed  I  should  sell  a  large  block  of 
American  bonds  and  use  the  cash  I  realized  to  pay  for  the 
purchase  of  the  mines.  I  suppose  he  thought  to  make  a 
good  thing  out  of  it,  and  was  eager  to  purchase. 

My  reader  will  recall  that  payment  upon  all  United  States 
bonds  payable  to  bearer,  as  mine  were,  could  not  be  stopped, 
and  so  far  as  the  innocent  holder  was  concerned  he  was  per- 
fectly secure.  But  the  custom  among  bankers  was,  when- 
ever any  bonds  were  lost  by  theft  or  fraud,  to  send  out  cir- 


76  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

culars  containing  the  numbers,  asking  that  the  parties  of- 
fering them  might  be  questioned  and  held.  But  as  Ameri- 
can bonds  were  sold  in  millions  all  over  the  Continent,  and 
were  passing  freely  from  hand  to  hand,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
little  or  no  attention  was  paid  to  such  circulars,  but,  of  course, 
had  strangers  of  disreputable  appearance  offered  bonds  in 
large  sums,  the  lists  might  have  been  scrutinized  and  awk- 
ward questions  asked.  Therefore  I  felt  a  trifle  nervous,  and 
determined  to  run  no  chance  of  losing  my  bonds — ^at  least 
not  all  of  them.  So  I  resolved  to  go  to  Wiesbaden,  some 
fifteen  miles  away,  stop  at  some  hotel  under  a  different  name, 
leave  the  bonds  there,  and  take  the  morning  train  for  Frank- 
fort, conduct  my  negotiations,  and  return  to  Wiesbaden 
every  evening.  It  was  at  this  time  easy  to  lose  one's  iden- 
tity in  Wiesbaden,  for  the  town  then  was,  along  with  Baden- 
Baden,  the  Monte  Carlo  of  the  Continent,  and  adventurers, 
men  and  women,  from  all  over  Europe  flocked  there  in  thou- 
sands to  chance  their  fortune  in  the  gambling  halls.  Al- 
though a  little  in  advance  of  this  portion  of  my  history,  1 
will  here  relate  an  adventure  of  mine  there,  some  years  after 
the  period  of  which  I  am  speaking. 

I  will,  however,  preface  my  narrative  with  a  brief  account 
of  the  history  of  the  place.  The  city  of  Wiesbaden,  previous 
to  the  Franco-German  war  of  1870,  was  the  chief  town  of 
one  of  those  petty  principalities  which  were  plentifully 
sprinkled  over  the  face  of  Europe.  Since  the  old  Roman 
days  the  town  had  been  famous  for  its  hot  springs,  and  con- 
sequently for  its  hot  baths,  and  a  good  many  people — during 
the  Winter  particularly — resorted  there  to  bathe  and  to  drink 
the  waters.  As  a  matter  of  course,  the  townspeople,  as  the 
custom  of  such  places  is,  have  recorded  many  a  marvelous 
cure,  ranging  all  the  way  from  headache  to  hydrophobia. 
But  still  the  town  was  of  little  importance  save  locally.  The 
petty  ruler,  with  a  title  longer  than  his  income,  lived  in  the 
pretentious  castle,  beguiling  the  time  by   smoking  cheap 


VTA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  77 

cigars  or  ordering  on  banquets  whose  piece  de  resistance 
consisted  of  Gebratene  Gans  und  Kartoffeln,  the  unlucky 
bird  being  tribute  in  kind  from  the  farmyard  of  some  peas- 
ant subject  Hving  in  a  miserable  hut  on  black  bread. 

But  a  change  was  impending.  A  mighty  wizard  had  vis- 
ited the  place,  with  an  eye  quick  to  see  the  possibilities  of 
the  situation,  with  a  brain  to  plan  and  a  hand  to  execute. 
His  name  was  Francois  Blanc,  the  head  of  the  great  gam- 
bling establishment  at  Homburg.  Vast  as  were  his  am- 
bition and  achievements,  he  was  a  man  of  the  simplest  tastes. 

To  see  him — as  I  often  have — in  his  seedy  coat,  his  old- 
fashioned  spectacles  on  the  tip  of  his  nose,  one  would  have 
taken  him  for  a  country  advocate  whose  wildest  dreams 
were  of  a  practice  of  two  thousand  thalers  a  year,  with  an 
old  gig  and  wheezy  mare  to  haul  him  around  the  country 
side  from  client  to  client.  Before  his  Wiesbaden  days  he  had 
been  the  guiding  spirit  in  the  direction  of  the  splendid  gam- 
bling halls,  the  Casino  at  Homburg.  Blanc  was  impervious 
to  flattery;  a  hard-headed,  silent  man,  a  man  without  enthu- 
siasm and  without  weaknesses,  who  kept  a  lavish  table  and 
ate  sparingly  himself,  who  had  a  wine  cellar  rivaling  that  of 
the  Autocrat  of  All  the  Russias  and  yet  contented  himself 
with  sipping  a  harmless  mineral  water;  who  kept  and  di- 
rected a  huge  gambling  machine — a  mighty  conglomera- 
tion of  gorgeously  decorated  halls,  wine  parlors  and  music 
rooms,  crammed  day  and  night  by  giddy  and  excited  throngs, 
but  himself  never  indulging  in  anything  more  exciting  than 
an  after-dinner  game  of  dominoes  or  a  quiet  drive  with  his 
wife  through  the  country  lanes. 

Thus  this  Francois  Blanc,  with  perfect  equanimity,  watched 
the  thousand  thousands  of  butterflies  and  moths  of  society 
scorch  their  wings  in  the  terrific  flame  that  glowed  in  his 
Casino,  while  he  looked  on,  a  cynical  observer,  despising  the 
fools  enraptured  with  roulette  and  fascinated  with  rouge- 
et-noir. 


78  l^-KOM  WALL  STREET  TO  ^'EWGATl!! 

But  one  thing  he  was  not  afraid  of,  and  that  was  spending 
money.  To  compass  his  business  ends  he  laid  it  out  lavishly, 
and  in  the  end  he  drew  all  Europe  to  Wiesbaden.  Still 
broader  and  still  deeper  he  laid  the  foundations  of  the  for- 
tune that  •  ultimately  grew  to  colossal  proportions.  But  he 
did  not  make  Wiesbaden  famous  without  keen  opposition. 
He  made  the  fortune?  of  the  beggarly  Prince  Karl  and  the 
whole  hungry  crowd  of  royal  highnesses  in  spite  of  them- 
selves. At  every  fresh  opposition  he  simply  opened  his 
purse  and  a  golden  shower  fell  on  them. 

It  required  a  hard  head  to  withstand  the  attacks  made  on 
him  when  it  became  known  that  he  had  bought  up  both 
prince  and  municipality,  and  proposed  to  make  Wiesbaden 
par  excellence  the  gambling  city  of  the  Continent.  But,  de- 
spite of  all,  he  pushed  on  his  plans  to  wonderful  success.  A 
great  park  was  laid  out  and  stately  buildings  arose,  all  dedi- 
cated to  the  goddess  of  chance.  Slim  was  the  chance  the  vo- 
taries of  the  game  had  in  his  gorgeous  halls.  He  threw  out 
his  money  in  millions,  but  he  knew  the  weak,  foolish  heart  of 
man,  the  egotism  of  each  and  every  one  of  us,  that  leads  us  to 
ignore  for  ourselves  the  immutable  law  of  numbers.  So  he 
counted  upon  his  returns,  and  never  counted  in  vain. 

As  I  say,  he  had  a  hard  head  to  withstand  the  attacks  made 
upon  him.  Every  day  the  post  brought  hundreds  of  letters 
containing  propositions  of  threats  from  people  who  had  lost 
their  money  and  demanded  its  return  with  fierce  threats, 
pitiful  supplications  and  warnings  of  intended  suicide,  place, 
date  and  hour  carefully  specified,  so  there  could  be  no  mis- 
take, and  more  than  one  attempt  was  made  upon  his  life. 
But  the  equanimity  of  Francois  Blanc  was  equal  to  all  ad- 
ventures. Threats,  prayers,  temptations,  left  him  untouched. 
This  man  of  ice,  self-possessed,  cold,  indifferent  to  the  ruin 
of  the  thousands  of  victims  of  his  will,  had  a  fad  or  fancy. 
It  was  for  raising  red  and  white  roses,  and  while  the  mad 
throngs  were .  fluttering  in  frenzy  around  the  tables  in  his 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  79 

halls  at  Homburg,  Wiesbaden  and  Monte  Carlo,  he,  hoe  or 
trowel  in  hand,  would  be  training  and  transplanting  his  roses, 
solicitous  over  an  opening  bud  or  deploring  the  ravages  of 
an  insect;  or,  again,  refusing  all  invitations,  would  sit  down 
with  his  wife  to  a  dinner  of  boiled  turnips  and  bacon,  washed 
down  with  a  glass  of  Vichy  water  and  milk.  This  was  the 
town  and  these  the  scenes  constantly  occurring  there. 

Now  for  my  adventure.  In  1870,  just  before  the  war 
cloud  burst,  covering  all  that  part  of  the  world,  I  was  stop- 
ping for  some  weeks  at  the  Hotel  Nassau.  It  stands  in  the 
main  street,  opposite  the  park  gate  leading  to  the  Casino. 
All  the  world  went  to  Wiesbaden  to  be  amused.  However 
fashionable  frivolity  and  vice  may  be  elsewhere,  here  it  was 
strictly  de  rigueur,  and  to  pretend  to  decency  and  sobriety 
would  be  to  stamp  one's  self  a  heathen  and  barbarian,  all  un- 
versed in  the  glorious  flower-wreathed  Primrose  Way  of  our 
orb. 

The  daily  routine  for  the  throng  began  with  cofifee  in  bed 
at  8  a.  m.,  then  dressing  gowns  were  donned,  and  the  bath  in 
underground  floors  of  the  hotel  were  sought  and  a  bath  had 
in  the  hot  mineral  waters,  which  were  conducted  to  all  the 
hotels  direct  from  the  hot  springs  of  the  town.  Half  an 
hour  in  the  bath,  then  a  light  breakfast,  preparatory  to  sally- 
ing out  for  an  hour  on  the  Spaziergang  around  the  Quellen 
to  drink  the  water,  listen  to  the  band,  see  and  be  seen,  but, 
above  all,  to  gossip  and  tell  lies.  At  11  a.  m.  the  gambling 
began  in  the  Casino,  and  with  a  rush  the  seats  around  the 
tables  would  be  filled.  Then  speedily  there  would  be  rows 
behind  rows  of  eager  players  or  spectators,  and  what  a  sight 
it  all  was  to  the  cool-headed  observer. 

With  what  keen  interest  all  watched  the  result  of  the  first 
turn  of  the  card  at  the  card  tables  and  the  color  of  the  first  hit 
at  roulette.  For  all  gamblers  are  superstitious,  and  are  de- 
vout believers  in  omens.  Those  whose  luck  or  pocketbooks 
held  out  gambled  steadily  on,  or,  if  luck  turned  against  them, 


80  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

would  leave  the  table,  go  to  do  some  fantastic  thing  to 
change  their  luck  and  then  return.  At  2  p.  m.  the  band  (a 
very  fine  one)  played  in  the  Musik  Saal,  and  most  of  the 
idlers  and  morning  players  gathered  there  to  listen  to  the 
music  and  to  drink  and  dine.  Here  in  this  hall  the  intrigues 
begun  on  the  promenade  or  in  the  gambling-rooms  were 
helped  along  by  the  ample  opportunities  of  meeting,  with 
the  passions  stimulated  by  the  music  and  the  wine.  At  4 
o'clock  many  took  an  afternoon  nap.  Then  came  the  chief 
event  of  the  day,  the  ponderous  table  d'hote.  At  9  p.  m. 
every  one  flocked  to  the  Casino,  and  the  game  went  merrily 
on  until  midnight.  Then  to  bed,  each  and  all  with  more  or 
less  Rudesheimer  or  Hochheimer  stowed  away. 

At  the  time  of  which  I  speak  many  were  my  idle  days,  in 
which  I  was  free  to  seek  pleasure.  I  used  to  find  much  en- 
joyment in  frequenting  the  Casino  to  watch  the  people  and 
to  play  the  role  of  "looker-on  in  Vienna,"  which,  by  the  way, 
is  a  star  role  and  therefore  rather  agreeable.  One  evening 
while  watching  the  rouge-et-noir  I  noticd  a  lady  just  in  front 
of  me,  magnificently  dressed  in  all,  save  that  there  was  an 
entire  absence  of  jewelry.  She  was  literally  dressed  to  kill, 
and,  although  near  50,  yet  to  the  casual  observer  she  seemed 
no  more  than  40,  or  even  less.  She  was  a  well-preserved 
woman  of  the  world,  and  was  known  as  the  Countess  de  Win- 
zerole.  This  was  the  adventuress  who  had  married  Van 
Tromp  some  two  years  before.  What  a  career  had  been  that 
of  this  woman! 

She  had  been  mistress  from  first  to  last  of  a  dozen  men, 
noblemen,  diplomats,  soldiers,  but  being  an  inveterate  gam- 
bler, one  after  another  saw,  with  dismay,  the  cash,  estates, 
diamonds,  carriages,  costly  furs  and  laces  he  showered  upon 
her  all  go  whirling  into  the  ever-open  maw  of  the  Casino,  or 
in  the  drawing-room  games  of  the  bon-ton  in  Paris  or  Pe- 
tersburg. One  brave  youth,  an  officer  in  the  Prussian 
Guards,  had,  in  his  infatuation  for  the  Countess,  and  impreg- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  81 

nable,  as  he  thought,  against  bankruptcy  by  reason  of  his 
great  fortune,  tried  to  satisfy  her  cravings  for  splendor  of 
entourage  and  her  infatuation  for  gambHng.  The  result 
was  that  one  day  the  crack  of  a  pistol-shot  was  heard  in  the 
Countess'  chamber,  and  the  servants  rushing  in  found  the 
young  bankrupt  dead,  lying  across  the  bed,  with  a  bullet 
through  the  heart.  The  next  day  a  horde  of  clamorous  cred- 
itors besieged  the  house,  where  the  Countess  calmly  told 
them  she  had  sent  for  her  bankers  and  on  the  morrow  they 
would  be  paid.  That  night  his  comrades  buried  their  dead 
friend  with  military  honors.  At  midnight  the  cortege 
passed  the  hotel,  and  all  eyes  watched  the  lovely  Countess 
robed  in  white  as  she  appeared,  her  bosom  heaving  with 
emotion,  while  she  waved  a  farewell  to  her  dead  lover.  Ten 
minutes  later  she  fled  through  the  back  door  and  over  the 
garden  wall,  falling  into  the  arms  of  another  lover  waiting 
there.  He  himself  did  not  go  the  way  of  the  last,  but  half 
of  his  fortune  did;  so  one  morning,  leaving  a  polite  note  of 
farewell,  he,  taking  for  companion  the  dressing  maid  of  his 
mistress,  embarked  for  America. 

At  the  time  I  met  her  the  Countess'  reputation  was  tc>o 
well  known  and  her  beauty  too  much  fallen  off  for  her  to 
make  any  more  grand  catches.  A  local  banker  at  Wiesbaden 
became  very  friendly.  However,  the  friendship  lost  all  its 
warmth  when  the  banker's  stout  wife  one  day  caught  them 
together,  and  having  already  provided  herself  with  a  whip  in 
anticipation,  visited  them  both  with  a  jealous  woman's  rage 
and  a  sound  thrashing. 

Now,  the  Countess  spent  her  time  around  the  tables,  fol- 
lowing the  winners  and  getting  douceurs  from  them.  These 
were  by  no  means  small — most  of  them  being  gifts  pure  and 
simple,  given  from  mere  goodness  of  heart  or  sheer  prodigal- 
ity for  there  were  too  many  gay  and  beautiful  women  fllock- 
mg  around  ready  to  smile  on  winners  in  the  game  for  the 
C£>untes5  now  to  make  even  a  temporary  conquest.    How- 


82  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

ever,  at  this  period  she  hved  well — even  extravagantly — ^but, 
of  course,  saved  nothing.  As  related,  I  first  met  the  Countess 
here  at  the  table  where  the  game  was  going  on.  She  had 
just  staked  and  lost  her  last  gulden.  She  was  betting  on  the 
black,  and  four  times  in  succession  the  red  had  won.  She 
turned,  and  looking  in  my  face,  implored  me  to  bet  a  double 
Frederick  on  the  red.  I  instantly  placed  the  money  on  the 
red  and  won.  She  begged  me  to  transfer  the  stake  to  the 
black,  I  did  so,  and  black  won.  Placing  her  hand  on  the 
stake,  she  said:  "Sir,  leave  it;  black  will  win  again."  Sure 
enough,  it  did.  She  seized  the  cash,  $80,  and  handing  me 
a  double  Frederick,  said  in  her  most  bewitching  manner: 
"Oh,  sir;  be  generous  and  let  me  keep  this!"  I  said:  "Cer- 
tainly, madame."  She  promptly  staked  it,  and  in  two  turns 
of  the  cards  it  was  gone. 

We  met  several  times  the  next  few  days,  but  merely  bowed 
without  speaking. 

One  afternoon,  entering  the  Musik  Saal,  I  took  a  small 
table,  and,  ordering  a  bottle  of  wine,  sat  down  to  listen  to  the 
music  and  watch  the  throng.  The  Countess  came  in,  and 
seeing  me  alone,  came  straight  to  me,  shook  hands  warmly 
and  sat  down.  I,  of  course,  invited  her  to  have  a  glass  of 
wine.  We  soon  finished  that  bottle  and  ordered  another.  We 
had  what  was  to  me  a  most  amusing  talk.  She  was  a  character 
— had  been  everywhere  and  spoke  all  the  modern  languages. 
She  assured  me  that  I  was  a  very  charming  gentleman.  In 
paying  my  bill  I  incautiously  displayed  a  gold  piece  or  two, 
and,  seeing  she  was  going  to  ask  me  to  give  her  one,  I  saved 
her  the  trouble  by  placing  one  in  her  hand.  In  time  we  be- 
came quite  good  friends.  Twice  I;  paid  her  board  bill  in 
order  to  rescue  her  wardrobe  from  the  clutches  of  her  land- 
lord, and  once  I  saved  her  from  the  hands  of  an  irate  wash- 
erwoman. When,  after  a  time,  I  left  Wiesbaden,  I  left  her  as 
gay,  as  prosperous  and  as  extravagant  as  ever, 

I  did  not  see  Wiesbaden  again  for  over  two  years,  but  the 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  83 

second  week  of  January,  187J,  found  me  there.  The  Prus- 
sian Government  now  ruled  in  the  town,  and  refused  to  re- 
new the  Ucense  of  M.  Blanc.  It  had  expired  fourteen  days 
before  my  arrival.  What  a  change  had  fallen  on  the  town! 
The  Casino  was  gloomy  and  cold,  the  gay  crowds  had  fled. 
All  the  life  and  movement  of  the  street  and  promenade  was 
forever  a  thing  of  the  past.  I  had  located  there  simply  as  a 
precaution,  disposing  of  ^arge  amounts  of  bonds  in  Frankfort, 
fifteen  miles  away,  and  returning  to  Wiesbaden  each  night. 
At  this  time  I  put  up  at  the  Hotel  Victoria,  near  the  rail- 
road station.  One  Saturday,  going  up  to  Frankfort  rather 
late,  my  business  detained  me  until  after  dark.  On  reach- 
ing the  station  I  happened  to  look  into  the  third-class  wait- 
ing-room, and  there  I  spied  a  figure  alone  that  looked  famil- 
iar. I  soon  recognized  the  Countess.  From  her  appear- 
ance and  surroundings  it  was  plain  that  there  was  now  no 
wealthy  lover  at  her  beck  and  call.  Because  she  looked  so 
unhappy  I  gave  her  a  cordial  greeting,  which  she  returned 
rather  wearily.  It  was  very  cold,  and  I  was  clad  in  furs  from 
head  to  foot ^  besides,  I  was,  apparently,  on  the  full  flood- 
tide  of  fortune,  having  with  me  then  a  very  large  sum  of 
money,  some  of  which  she  could  have  had  for  the  asking. 

I  said:  "Come,  Countess;  let  us  go  together  first  class  to 
Wiesbaden."  She  replied  that  she  lived  at  Bieberich,  a 
small  town  on  the  Rhine,  four  miles  below  Mayence,  and 
four  miles  from  Wiesbaden.  As  the!  train  was  starting  I 
bade  her  good-bye,  but  asked  permission  to  call  on  her  the 
next  day.  She  consented,  giving  her  address  as  Hotel  Belle- 
vue. 

The  next  morning  was  very  cold,  but  I  enjoyed  that,  so, 
after  a  light  breakfast,  I  started  over  the  hills  for  a  walk  to 
the  town,  arriving  there  soon  after  noon.  I  found  the  hotel, 
a  fifth-rate  one,  and  entering,  was  shown  to  the  room  of  the 
Countess.  What  a  change  for  her  from  the  past!  Her 
room  was  a  small  oue,  plastered,  but  unpapered,  and  with  a 


84  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

few  articles  of  furniture  of  the  cheapest.  The  poor  woman 
was  too  evidently  in  a  state  of  frightful  depression,  and  well 
she  might  be.  Hers  had  been  a  butterfly  existence,  life  all 
one  Summer  holiday,  no  hostages  given  to  fortune,  no  bond 
taken  against  future  wreck  or  change.  Like  the  butterfly, 
she  had  roamed  from  flower  to  flower,  sipping  the  sweet  only, 
'^'',  like  the  cricket,  had  merrily  piped  all  the  Summer 
through,  thinking  sunshine  and  bloom  eternal.  Ev.en  when 
youth  and  beauty  had  fled,  and  lovers  no  longer  stood  ready 
to  attend  and  serve,  she  still  found  a  good  aftermath  in  her 
happy  harvest  field  on  the  floors  of  the  Casino,  but  when  the 
Casino  lights  at  Wiesbaden  went  out,  then,  for  the  Countess, 
had  the  Winter  indeed  come. 

My  walk  had  given  me  something  of  an  appetite,  and  it 
now  being  2  o'clock  I  at  once  proposed  to  have  dinner.  To 
my  surprise  she  said  she  had  already  dined,  and  upon'  my 
remarking  that  it  was  early  for  dinner,  she  replied  that  it  was, 
but  as  she  was  owing  quite  a  hotel  bill  she  feared  to  give 
any  trouble  lest  the  landlord  might  present  his  bill,  and  in  de- 
fault of  payment  she  was  liable  to  arrest  and  a  very  considera- 
ble imprisonment.  I  need  hardly  tell  my  readers  that  they 
do  these  things  differently  in  Germany  than  with  us.  I  could 
easily  afiford  to  be  generous  with  other  people's  money,  and 
did  not  mean  to  see  the  Countess  suffer  for  a  hotel  bill. 
Ringing  the  bell,  I  told  the  waiter  to  bring  me  some  dinner 
and  a  bottle  of  wine.  The  Countess  looked  very  uneasy 
over  my  order.  Of  late  years  she  had  seen  life  from  the 
seamy  side  and  had  observed  so  much  of  the  falseness  and 
cruelty  of  men  that  she  had  apparently  lost  all  faith  in  them, 
and  no  doubt  thought  me  an  adventurer,  one  who  might 
possibly  dine  and  order  expensive  wines,  leaving  her  to  face 
an  angry  landlord.  W'hile  dinner  was  being  prepared,  she 
told  me  she  was  in  the  greatest  distress ;  had  not  even  a  single 
kreutzer  to  pay  postage,  and,  worst  of  all,  was  owing  for  two 
weeks'  board.    She  had  no  means  to  fly,  no  place  to  fly  to, 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  85 

and  if  she  remained  incarceration  awaited  her.  She  had  for 
weeks  been  writing  everywhere  to  every  one  she  had  known, 
former  lovers,  distant,  but  long-neglected  relatives.  The  re^ 
suit — dead  silence;  no  response  from  anywhere.  She  at  last 
was  alone,  caught  in  the  world's  great  snare,  with  no  friendly 
hand  to  shelter  or  save.  It  was  a  sight  to  read  this  woman's 
face.  There  swept  over  it  all  the  conflicting  waves  of  regrets 
over  might-have-beens  and  the  gloomy  shades  of  despair. 
Both  proprietor  and  waiter  appeared  to  set  the  table ;  it  was 
for  one,  but  wineglasses  for  two  were  brought  unsolicited. 
They  were  officiously  anxious  to  please  "Your  Highness," 
as  they  christened  me.  The  Countess  sat  looking  gloomily 
out  of  the  window  across  the  Rhine,  while  I  watched  her  face 
until  an  infinite  pity  for  the  shipwrecked  soul  filled  my  mind. 
Dismissing  the  waiter  I  went  to  the  window,  and  standing  by 
her  chair  I  said :  "Don't  worry  any  more.  Countess ;  I  will  pay 
your  bill."  At  the  same  time  drawing  from  an  inner  pocket  a 
book  crammed  with  notes,  I  placed  seven  lOO-thaler  notes 
in  her  lap,  saying:  "This  one  is  for  your  board  bill,  and  the 
other  six  are  for  your  pocket  money."  I  need  not  attempt 
to  picture  her  amazement  and  delight.  Certainly  she  ap- 
peared very  grateful.  We  had  a  long  conversation  and  I  was 
talking  to  her  like  a  brother.  Perhaps  had  she  still  been 
beautiful  and  young  my  manner  and  language  might  have 
been  less  brotherly.  I  told  her  she  had  danced  and  sung, 
but  at  last  the  time  had  come  for  toil,  and  suggested  she 
should  go  to  Brussels,  which  is  ever  thronged  with  tourists, 
where  her  knowledge  of  languages  and  her  savoir  faire  could 
be  made  available  in  one  of  the  many  shops  where  gimcracks 
are  sold  to  travelers.  I  advised  her  to  ofTer  a  small  premium 
for  a  position.    This  she  said  she  would  do. 

In  saying  good-bye  I  promised  to  see  her  again,  the  next 
night,  but  I  found  a  telegram  awaiting  me  on  my  arrival  at 
my  hotel  which  called  me  to  meet  two  of  my  companions 
at  Calais,  and  I  was  forced  to  leave  by  an  early  train.    The 


86  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

next  time  I  saw  the  Countess  was  at  Newgate.  She  visited 
me  there,  and  was  in  perfect  despair  over  my  posilion  and 
her  inability  to  serve  me.  For  those  who  may  care  to  know 
more  of  her,  I  will  say  that,  following  my  advice,  she  went 
to  Brussels^  and  obtained  a  position  in  a  Tourist  Exchange 
and  within  a  year  married  the  proprietor,  who  was  a  Council- 
man and  a  man  of  considerable  local  importance.  She  made 
him  a  good  wife  and  became  a  true  mother  to  his  five 
daughters.  When  he  died  he  made  her  guardian  to  both  of 
them  and  his  wealth.  She  became  very  religious,  and  to 
the  last  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Roman  Church.  She 
died  in  1886,  thirteen  years  after  the  episode  at  Bieberich. 
Her  ashes  rest  in  the  little  graveyard  of  the  Convent  des 
Soeurs  de  Ste.  Agnes,  on  the  Charleroi  road,  two  miles 
from  the  city,  and  on  her  monument  is  engraved : 

:  TO   ELIZABETH,  ; 

•*  The  Beloved  Wife,  Pious  and  True.  '. 

:  She  Served  God  and  Has  Gone  to  • 

'.  Live  with  the  Angels.  ; 


'TlIK    LOVELY    COUNTESS   WAVED   A     FAREWELL     TO     HER 
DEAD  LOVER."— Paee  81. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

"WE  HAVE  ANOTHER  JOB  FOR  TOU." 

About  every  second  day  I  called  on  Murpurgo  &  Weiss- 
weiller  in  Frankfort,  and  talked  over  matters,  and  easily  saw 
that  everything  would  go  right.  All  that  was  necessary  was 
to  produce  the  bonds,  and  they  would  hand  over  the  cash. 
Here  in  America,  though  we  scrutinized  a  man's  garments, 
the  quality  and  fit  of  the  same  having  a  certain  value,  we 
never  take  much  stock  in  a  stranger  because  an  artist  tailor 
has  decorated  him,  or  because  he  has  plenty  of  money.  But 
in  the  seventies,  all  over  Europe,  from  the  mere  fact  that  a 
man  was  an  American  and  had  the  appearance,  dress  and 
manner  of  a  gentleman,  they  always  took  it  for  granted  that 
he  must  be  a  gentleman. 

Therefore,  seeing  that  I  was  taken  for  a  capitalist,  and  that 
no  question  would  be  asked,  I  told  the  firm  my  deal  in  Aus- 
trian copper  mines  appeared  so  certain  to  be  completed  that 
I  had  ordered  the  securities  I  intended  to  dispose  of  to  be 
forwarded  from  London.  Giving  them  a  list,  they  gave  me  a 
memorandum  offer  for  the  lot.  I  accepted  their  offer.  The 
next  hour  wos  a  very  bad  sixty  minutes  for  me.  There  was 
considerable  delay,  and  my  suspicions  were  fully  aroused, 
and  at  one  time  I  thought  they  had  made  some  discovery; 
but,  as  a  fact,  my  suspicions  were  wholly  unfounded. 

The  banker  and  clerks  were  simply  hurrying  around,  anx- 
ious to  oblige  me  and  have  the  money  out  of  the  bank  be- 
fore it  closed.     At  last  the  amounts  were  figured  up  and  veri- 

(87) 


88  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

fied  by  myself.  One  of  the  partners  hastened  off  to  the  bank 
and  in  five  minutes  returned  with  a  very  pretty  parcel  of  200,- 
000  gulden;  but,  in  spite  of  the  evident  safety  of  the  busi- 
ness, I  was  nervous,  and  resolved  to  put  a  good  distance 
between  me  and  the  town  as  speedily  as  possible.  Before  5 
o'clock  I  was  in  Weij^baden,  and,  going  directly  to  the  Casino, 
where  they  kept  at  all  times  a  million  francs,  in  addition  to 
German  money,  and  where  the  possession  of  large  sums  at- 
tract no  attention,  I  readily  exchanged  my  money  for  350 
one-thousand-franc  notes. 

*     *     * 

Going  to  Rothschild's,  I  bought  exchange  on  New  York 
for  $80,000,  and  left  the  same  night  for  London.  Very 
many  times  I  journeyed  over  that  route  in  after  years,  but 
never  with  so  light  a  heart.  I  was  young  and  enthusiastic; 
all  the  glamour  and  poetry  of  life  hung  around  me,  while  I 
was  too  inexperienced  to  notice  whither  I  was  drifting,  or  to 
understand  the  powerful  current  upon  w^hich  I  had  embarked. 
In  fact,  I  had  sold  myself  to  do  the  devil's  work,  and  day  by 
day  the  chain  would  tighten,  while  all  the  time  I  thought  I 
could  when  I  pleased  stop  short  on  the  downward  grade  and 
take  the  back  track.  Alore  experience  would  have  taught 
me  that  every  one  who  forsook  the  path  of  honor  not  only 
thought  the  same,  but  had  a  purpose  to  even  ever)'thing  up 
some  day  and  make  restitution.  And  to-day  there  is  not  a 
criminal  but  who,  at  the  start,  looks  forward  to  the  time  when 
he  will  no  longer  war  against  society,  but  will  go  out  and 
come  in  at  peace  with  all  men.  But  when  one  comes  to 
think  of  it,  what  a  fool's  game  is  that  of  a  man  who  fights 
against  society! 

The  criminal  has  but  two  arms,  very  short  and  weak  they 
are,  and  of  flesh,  too.  He  has  but  two  eyes  that  cannot  pos- 
sibly see  around  the  nearest  corner,  while  society  has  a  mil- 
lion arms  of  steel  that  can  reach  around  the  world,  and  a  mil- 
lion eyes  which  are  never  closed,  that  can  pierce  the  thickest 


"THEY    FOUND   A    BODY.    RAGGED,      EMACIATED,      FORLORN. 
IT   WAS   BREA."— Page   120. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  91 

gloom  with  sleepless  vigilance.  The  poor,  unhappy  crimi- 
nal, by  fortunate  dexterity,  may  escape  for  a  little,  but  at  last 
society  lays  her  iron  grasp  on  him,  and  with  giant  force  hurls 
him  into  a  dungeon.  As  for  the  short-lived,  tempestuous 
success  that  some  few  criminals  have,  is  there  any  sweetness 
in  it?  I  say  no;  success  won  in  honest  fight  is  sweet,  but  I 
know  from  my  own  experience  that  the  success  of  crime 
brings  no  sweetness,  no  blessing  with  it,  but  leaves  the  mind 
a  prey  to  a  thousand  haunting  fears  that  make  shipwreck  of 
peace. 

There  were  no  sleeping  cars  in  all  Europe  then,  so  I  sat 
up  in  a  compartment  and  really  enjoyed  the  ride,  viewing  the 
country  by  moonlight.  At  midnight  we  arrived  at  Calais, 
and  took  the  boat  for  Dover.  Then  the  express  for  Lon- 
don. Arriving  at  Victoria  Station  I  took  a  cab  to  Mrs. 
Green's,  where  I  had  breakfast  a  I'anglaise. 

I  had  a  little  adventure  that  night  going  down  the  Strand. 
At  Bow  street,  on  the  corner,  is  the  "Gaiety,"  a  famous  drink- 
ing saloon,  flooded  with  light  inside  and  out,  with  more  than 
a  half-dozen  handsome  barmaids.  Barmaids  are  a  great  in- 
stitution in  England — that  is,  they  have  never  more  than  one 
man  behind  a  bar,  none  at  all  in  the  railway  bars.  And  a 
fearful  source  of  ruin  to  the  girls,  as  they  are  to  thousands  of 
young  men — I  might  say  tens  of  thousands  every  year. 
These  girls  are  chosen  for  their  beauty  and  attractiveness. 
Yearly,  in  London  and  in  other  large  cities  of  England,  a 
"Beautiful  Barmaid  Show"  is  one  of  the  stated  features,  and 
is  held  in  some  public  garden  or  monster  hall.  These  ex- 
hibitions are  wonderfully  popular,  and  thousands  flock  to 
them.  Various  beauty  contests  are  got  up,  and  all  the  popu- 
lar features  of  voting,  etc.,  are  in  vogue.  Those  of  the  young 
women  who  win  the  prizes  make  their  fortunes,  for  they  are 
at  once  engaged  at  high  salaries  for  the  more  aristocratic 
barrooms.  Fancy  what  an  attraction  and  even  fascination 
the  gin  palace  with  lovely  girls  behind  the  bar  must  have  to 
6 


92  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

the  youth  of  a  great  city.  Alany  of  them  strangers,  busy 
during  the  day,  but  with  nothing  to  do  at  night,  with  the 
choice  of  the  street  or  a  sombre  room,  but  sure  of  a  sweet 
smile  of  welcome  from  a  fascinating  woman  in  the  barrooms. 
How  easily  and  how  naturally,  too,  does  a  young  man  be- 
come ensnared.  But  how  if  he  has  no  money?  No  smiles 
and  no  welcome  for  him!  And  then  what  a  temptation  to 
help  himself  to  his  master's  cash! 

Happy  for  our  country  that  our  laws  forbid  women  enter- 
ing that  ocupation! 

While  standing  in  the  brilliant  light  of  the  Gaiety,  watch- 
ing the  thronging  crowd  of  passers-by,  with  its  sprinkling 
of  unfortunates,  I  saw  one  poor,  bedraggled  creature,  wan- 
faced  and  hollowed-eyed,  with  hunger  and  despair  imprinted 
on  every  feature.  Looking  sharply  at  her  she  caught  my 
eye,  and,  crossing  the  street,  she  spoke  to  me.  The  poor 
thing  looked  as  if  she  had  been  dragged  through  all  the  gut- 
ters of  London.  She  said  that  herself  and  her  baby  were 
actually  starving — that  her  husband  had  been  out  of  work 
thirteen  weeks  and  had  then  deserted  her,  owing  twelve 
weeks'  rent,  and  the  landlady  had  just  told  her  that  unless 
she  paid  her  some  rent  before  9  o'clock  that  night  she  would 
be  turned  out  with  her  baby  into  the  streets. 

Those  of  my  readers  who  have  been  in  London  know  some- 
thing of  what  it  would  mean  for  this  woman  to  be  turned 
out  into  the  streets  of  that  fearful  Babylon.  No  wonder, 
then,  the  poor  soul  was  frantic  with  despair.  In  her  pov- 
erty a  shilling  looked  as  big  as  a  cartwheel,  and  when  I  said 
to  her:  "Will  you  promise  to  go  direct  home  if  I  give  you  a 
sovereign?"  she  cried  out:  "Oh,  sir,  God  forever  bless  you  if 
you  will!"  I  gave  her  the  $5,  and  as  she  started  to  run  I 
caught  her  by  the  sleeve  and  said :  "I  will  go  home  with  you 
to  see  if  you  have  told  me  the  truth."  She  lived  close  by,  in 
one  of  those  teeming  courts  that  run  ofif  from  the  Strand.  We 
found  her  baby  naked  on  a  heap  of  rags,  in  a  small,  dirty 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  93 

room,  containing  two  broken  chairs  for  furniture.  I  felt  that 
there  were  in  the  large  city  thousands  of  similar  cases,  but 
this  one  was  brought  home  to  me.  I  was  young  and  im- 
pressionable— more  than  that,  I  had  other  people's  money 
to  be  liberal  with;  so  I  called  up  the  landlady,  who,  almost 
dumb  with  surprise,  received  the  arrears  of  rent,  along  with 
a  month  in  advance.  Eliza,  for  that  ivas  her  name,  told  me 
she  could  get  work  if  she  had  clean  clothes  for  herself  and 
baby,  which  she  could  buy  for  £2.  I  gave  her  five,  and  giv- 
ing her  mv  address  in  New  York,  told  her  to  find  work  and 
let  me  know  how  she  got  on.  She  did  find  work  in  an  eel-pie 
shop  in  Red  Lion  Square,  High  Holbom.  I  saw  her  two 
years  later  in  London,  and  possibly  may  refer  to  her  again 

in  this  story. 

*     *    * 

I  went  down  to  Liverpool  and  embarked  on  the  good  ship 
Java.     Ten  days  later  we  sailed  through  the  Narrows. 

During  my  last  day  in  London  I  went  to  Westminster  Ab- 
bey, and  spent  three  hours  in  that  Valhalla  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race.  It  made  a  tremendous  impression  upon  my 
mind.  In  no  other  work  of  human  hands  do  the  spirits  of  so 
many  departed  heroes  linger,  certainly  in  no  other  does  the 
dust  of  so  many  of  the  great  dead  rest,  and  as  I  read  memO' 
rial  upon  memorial  to  departed  greatness  I  realized  that  the 
path  of  honor  and  of  truth  was  the  only  one  for  men  to  tread. 
All  through  the  voyage  the  influences  of  the  Abbey  were 
upon  me;  I  felt  I  was  treading  on  dangerous  ground,  and 
resolved  I  would  have  no  more  of  it.  Would  I  had  then  re- 
solved, when  I  met  Irving  &  Co.,  to  throw  all  the  plunder 
in  their  faces  and  say:  "I'll  have  none  of  it,  and  here  we 
part!"  I  felt  that  I  ought  to  do  that,  but  weakly  said:  "I 
need  the  $10,000,  and  I'll  give  the  rogues  their  share  and 
then  see  them  no  more.  I  had  fully  made  up  my  mind  to 
that,  knowing  Irving  would  be  on  the  wharf,  eager  to  meet 
me. 


94  FROM   WALL  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

In  sailing  througii  the  Narrows  and  past  Staten  Island  I 
was  making  up  my  mind  as  to  the  little  speech  I  would  make. 
We  rapidly  neared  the  wharf  in  Jersey  City,  and  I  quickly 
recognized  Irving  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  closely  packed 
crowd,  watching  the  steamer  with  a  nervous  look  on  his  face. 
A  rogue  suspects  every  one,  and  although  by  this  time  he 
had  become  pretty  well  satisfied  as  to  my  good  faith,  no 
doubt  he  would  be  happier  when  he  had  his  share  of  the 
plunder  safe  in  his  pocket.  I  was  standing  close  to  the  rail 
between  two  ladies,  and  saw  Irving  before  he  saw  me.  Wav- 
ing my  handkerchief,  his  eye  suddenly  fell  on  me.  With  a 
smile  and  pointing  significantly  to  my  pocket,  I  gave  him  a 
salute.  An  eager  look  came  into  his  face,  and  waving  his 
hand  he  cried  out:  "I  am  glad  to  see  you!"  and  no  doubt  he 
spoke  the  truth.  When  the  gangplank  was  thrown  ashore, 
and  I  saw  him  making  his  way  toward  it,  evidently  intending 
to  board  the  steamer,  I  thought  how  surprised  he  would  be 
when  I  told  him  I  would  have  no  more  of  his  game.  He 
sprang  on  board,  rushed  to  me  with  a  beaming  face,  grasped 
my  hand,  and  putting  the  other  on  my  shoulder,  led  me  to- 
ward the  gangway.  He  had  not  spoken  yet,  but  as  we  were 
going  down  the  gangplank  he  said:  "My  boy,  you  have  done 
splendidly,"  and  then,  putting  his  mouth  close  to  my  ear, 
whispered:  "We  have  got  another  job  for  you,  and  it's  a 
beauty!" 

I  don't  mean  to  pester  my  reader  with  a  moral,  or  by  too 
much  moralizing,  although  I  am  tempted  to  do  so.  There 
is  ample  material  for  a  course  of  sermons  in  that  "we  have 
another  job  for  you"  coming  to  me  just  then.  But,  leaving 
my  reader  to  draw  his  own  moral,  I  must  go  on  with  my 
narrative. 

Going  up  the  wharf  with  Irving,  I  was  on  the  point  of 
telling  him  I  wanted  no  more  jobs,  but  weakly  put  it  ofiF, 
and  by  so  doing,  of  course,  made  it  more  difficult.  He  told 
me  Stanley  and  White  were  waiting  at  Taylor's    Hotel  on 


•VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  05 

Montgomery  street,  a  few  doors  u^  from  the  wharf.  We 
soon  were  there,  and  they  gave  me  a  warm  and  even  enthu- 
siastic reception.  Then  I  began  to  tell  some  of  my  adven- 
tures  on  the  journey,  to  which  they  listened  with  unfeigned 
admiration,  and,  opening  my  bag,  I  produced  the  sixteen 
bills  of  exchange  for  $5,000  each,  informing  them  they 
should  have  their  cash  in  ninety  minutes.  It  was  curious 
to  see  these  men  handle  the  bills  of  exchange,  passing  them 
from  one  to  another,  examining  them  with  anxious  care. 
But  where  were  my  good  resolutions,  and  what  had  become 
of  them?  Why,  they,  under  the  effect  of  the  wine  and  the 
magnetic  influence  of  these  three  minds,  had  gone  flying 
down  the  bay,  and  under  a  favorable  gale  were  fast  speeding 
seaward  beyond  the  ken  of  mortal  eye,  not  to  be  found  by 
me  again  until  years  after,  when,  with  the  toils  about  me,  I 
found  myself  in  Newgate.  Then  the  fugitives  all  came  back, 
this  time  to  stay. 

My  three  graces  who  adorned  the  Police  Department  of 
New  York  were  full  of  matter  of  a  new  enterprise,  which  by 
my  co-operation  was  to  make  the  fortunes  of  us  all.  But 
they  were  too  evidently  anxious,  too  eagerly  desirous  to 
handle  the  greenbacks  my  bills  of  exchange  represented,  to 
fix  their  minds  upon  anything  else. 

Stanley  and  White  went  away  together,  but  first  each  once 
more  told  me  privately  that  he  depended  upon  me  to  put  in 
his  own  hands  his  share,  showing  how  these  rogues  sus- 
pected each  other,  and,  indeed,  were  full  of  suspicions  of 
every  one  and  every  thing.  Irving  crossed  the  ferry  with  me, 
but  on  the  New  York  side  dropped  behind,  and,  although  I 
paid  no  more  attention  to  him,  no  doubt  he  followed  me. 
The  excitement  of  success  and  of  being  at  home  again  ban- 
ished any  possible  regrets  or  fears  over  the  course  I  had  en- 
tered, and  wath  a  light  heart  and  buoyant  step  I  quickly  made 
my  way  to  a  friend  of  mine,  a  well-known  broker  in  New 
Street,  shook  hands  with  him,  and,  telling  him,  very  much  to 


96  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

his  surprise,  that  I  had  just  returned  from  Europe,  asked  him 
to  step  around  the  corner  to  the  office  of  the  bankers  and 
identify  me.  In  a  minute  we  were  there.  Indorsing  the 
drafts,  I  told  them  to  make  it  in  five-hundreds;  they  sent  out 
to  the  bank  for  them,  and  I  was  speedily  on  my  way  to  our 
rendezvous  with  i6o  $500  greenbacks  in  a  roll,  and  meeting 
the  three  at  the  wineroom  I  made  their  eyes  grow  big  when 
I  flashed  the  roll  on  their  delighted  orbs.  The  division  was 
speedily  made,  I  retaining  $10,000  for  my  share,  and  each 
promptly  threw  out  a  thousand,  and  we  shook  hands  all 
around  and  parted. 

Here  were  four  conspirators  of  us,  and  it  was  comical  to 
see  how  anxious  we  all  were  to  get  away  so  that  each  could 
stow  his  plunder  in  a  safe  place.  For  my  part  I  went  home, 
but  I  shall  say  nothing  of  the  meeting  with  the  members  of 
my  family.  I  told  them  I  had  made  a  lot  of  money  in  a  spec- 
ulation, and  not  knowing  the  inside  history,  or  suspecting 
anything,  they  rejoiced  with  me  and  were  proud  and  happy 
for  their  boy.  1  spent  about  a  thousand  dollars  making 
things  comfortable  for  them,  but  to  their  grief  I  told  them 
that  circumstances  required  me  to  take  up  my  former  quar- 
ters at  the  St.  Nicholas. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  tell  of  my  reception  among  my 
acquaintances  on  Wall  street  and  other  parts  of  the  city.  Ru- 
mor magnified  my  resources,  and  it  was  reported  I  had 
cleared  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  some  fortunate  deal. 
It  was  strange  to  see  the  new-found  deference  all  around, 
from  my  former  employers  down  to  my  old  waiter  at  down- 
town Delmonico's,  where  I  dined;  but  I  will  pass  over  all 
these  matters  and  proceed  with  my  history  of  the  Primrose 
Way. 

The  next  few  days  I  went  about  engaged  in  the  to  me 
very  agreeable  task  of  paying  all  my  debts.  The  largest  debt 
I  was  owing  was  one  of  $1,300,  partly  borrowed  money  and 
partly  a  long-standing  balance  due  on  a  speculation  nego- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT. 


97 


tiated  on  my  account,  and  which  did  not  pan  out,  but  en- 
tailed a  loss.  Then  I  indulged  pretty  freely  in  many  little  in- 
travagances  in  the  way  of  tailor  bills,  etc.  Two  friends 
struck  me  for  a  loan,  and,  strange  to  say,  both  remain  un- 
paid to  this  hour,  along  with  some  twenty-five  years'  inter- 
est So,  within  a  fortnight  of  my  landing  I  found  my  $13,- 
000  reduced  quite  one-half,  and  as  I  was  cherishing  visions  of 
unbounded  wealth,  I  began  to  feel  quite  poor,  and  anxious 
to  see  some  outcome  to  this  "other  job"  my  friends  said  they 
had  ready  for  me.    It  was  at  the  very  door. 


MANSION    HOUSE,    ILLUMINATED. 


CHAPTER   X. 

A  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  PRODIGAL. 

Let  no  man  who  may  be  tempted  to  commit  a  crime  ever 
fancy  that  if  he  takes  the  first  step  down  hill  he  will  stop  un- 
til he  reaches  the  bottom.  If  one  of  my  readers  flatters  him- 
self he  can  go  one  step,  with  no  more  to  follow,  on  the  down- 
ward road,  let  such  an  one  read  this  story  to  the  end  and  then 
forever  abandon  such  an  idea  as  a  fancy  born  of  inexperience. 
For  this  history  is  as  a  handwriting  on  the  wall,  full  of  warn- 
ing to  all  and  every  one  who  may  be  tempted  to  take  one 
step  in  any  other  path  than  the  path  of  honor. 

In  1865  there  lived  in  London  a  famous  Queen's  Counsel, 
Edwin  James.  Fame  and  fortune  were  his.  A  born  orator, 
a  talented  scholar,  he  rapidly  pushed  his  way  from  the  very 
bottom  of  the  legal  profession  to  all  but  its  topmost  height. 
At  40  he  found  himself  facile  princeps  of  the  English  Bar, 
and  public  opinion,  that  potent  factor  in  popular  government, 
had  already  singled  him  out  for  the  high  position  of  Attor- 
ney-General. That  secured,  only  one  step  remained  to  place 
him  in  the  seat  of  the  Lord  Chancellor.  Truly,  an  imperial 
position — one  that  satisfied  the  proud  ambition  of  a  Wolsey 
and  fitted  the  genius  of  a  Thomas  a  Becket.  It  carries  with 
it  the  position  of  keeper  of  the  conscience  of  Her  Majesty, 
giving  the  possessor  precedence  in  all  official  functions  over 
the  English  aristocracy,  next  to  royalty  itself. 

But  about  this  time    dark    whispers    began  to  fly  about 
through  the  clubs  of  London.     Soon  it  became  known  that 
(98) 


FROM   WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  99. 

Edwin  James,  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  be,  was  in  the  toils,  and 
it  shortly  transpired  that,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  his  income 
from  his  profession  was  nearer  twenty  than  ten  thousand 
pounds  per  annum,  it  had  proved  insufficient  and  he  was 
heavily  in  debt,  and  worse. 

It  would  seem  he  was  keeping  up  what  in  the  polite  lan- 
guage of  society  are  known  as  dual  houses.  A  woman  ol 
brilliant  beauty  presided  over  one,  and  the  marvelous  beauty 
of  its  mistress  was  only  equaled  by  her  extravagance.  He 
also  had  a  fondness  for  associating  with  younger  men  than 
himself,  and  had  got  into  a  particularly  fast  set  of  young 
lords  and  army  men.  At  his  club  he  had  lost  large  sums  at 
baccarat  and  loo,  and,  in  an  unhappy  hour  for  himself  and 
his,  he  stooped  from  his  high  position  and — miserable  to 
think  of — committed  a  crime.  This,  in  the  expectation  that 
he  would  relieve  himself  from  some  of  the  more  crushing 
obligations  he  had  heaped  upon  himself,  either  through  the 
extravagant  vagaries  of  his  imperious  mistress,  or  by  his  own 
rashness  in  trying  his  luck  among  a  lot  of  tilled  sharpers. 
He  had  among  his  clients  one  fast,  even  madly  extravagant 
youth,  heir  of  an  l:istoric  name  and  of  a  lordly  estate.  To 
supply  his  extravagance  "my  lord"  had  applied  to  the  money 
lenders — those  sharks  that  in  London,  as  elsewhere,  fatten 
on  such  game.  These  gentry  were  eager  to  lend  the  young 
blood  money  upon  what  are  known  in  English  law  as  post- 
obits,  whicli  ]oa::s  in  this  particular  case  carried  the  trifling 
interest  of  about  lOO  per  cent,  per  annum.  James  was  cog- 
nizant of  his  friend's  excursions  among  the  money  lenders, 
and  no  doubt  he  thought  the  young  spendthrift,  when  he 
came  into  his  fortune,  would  never  know  within  a  good 
many  thousands  how  much  he  had  borrowed,  nor  even  the 
number  of  post-obits  he  had  given. 

I  will  just  explain  that  a  post-obit  is  a  form  of  note  or  due 
bill  given  by  the  heir  of  an  estate  (usually  of  an  entailed 
estate),  which  matures  the  moment  the  drawer  of  the  docu- 


100  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

ment  enters  into  that  estate.  That  is  to  say,  the  tender-heart- 
ed son  discounts  his  father's  death  to  provide  fuel  to  feed  his 
flame.  So  Edwin  James,  driven  to  his  own  destruction, 
stooped  from  his  imperial  position  into  wliat  one  might  call 
ankle-depth  of  crime. 

How  little  he  dreamed  there  was  a  beyond — a  huge,  seeth- 
mg  sea  of  crime;  an  ocean  whose  billows  are  of  ink,  and 
which  would  soon  sweep  him  from  his  high  place  into  the 
black  waters,  there  to  be  buffeted  until,  honor  and  hope  all 
gone,  he  would,  throwing  his  hands  to  heaven,  with  one 
despairing  cry,  sink  into  its  inky  depths,  adding  one  more 
ruined  life  to  the  millions  already  engulfed.  In  that  long, 
sad  catalogue  of  the  dead  there  is  probably  not  one,  who, 
when  taking  the  first  step  into  crime,  ever  thought  a  second 
would  follow  the  first. 

But  to  come  back  to  our  gilded  sir.  He  made  out  two 
post-obits  for  £5,000,  wrote  his  client's  name  at  the  bottom 
of  each,  gave  them  to  the  money  lenders,  who,  never  doubt- 
ing that  the  prodigal  son  had  signed  and  given  them  to  his 
counsel,  made  no  question,  but  gave  James  the  money  for 
them  at  once.  But  James  had  reckoned  without  his  host, 
for  this  nineteenth  century  prodigal  was  made  of  keener 
metal  than  he  of  the  first.  Strange  to  say,  and  utterly  unex- 
pected as  it  was  to  all  who  knew  him  and  had  looked  upon 
his  riotous  living,  he  kept  his  books  straight,  and  knew  to  a 
single  guinea  how  much  and  to  whom  he  was  owing. 

His  discovery  of  the  forgery  was  accelerated  by  the  sud- 
den and  most  unexpected  death  of  his  father,  his  return  home 
and  stepping  into  his  estate. 

The  various  post-obits  were  presented  and  placed  before 
him.  He  instantly  pronounced  the  two  for  five  thousand 
pounds  each  to  be  forgeries,  and  the  crime  was  easily  laid  at 
the  door  of  the  Queen's  Counsel.  The  heir  indignantly  re- 
fused to  condone  the  offense,  and,  revealing  the  fatal  secret 
to  a  few,  within  a  month  it  was  known  in  every  clubroom  in 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  101 

London.  From  there  it  got  into  the  newspapers,  and  they, 
under  a  thinly  disguised  ahas  of  a  "distinguished  member  of 
the  Bar,"  gave  more  or  less  accurate  details  of  the  damning 
truth.  His  former  client  eventually  said  he  would  not  prose- 
cute the  forgery  if  the  criminal  left  England ;  if  not,  he  would 
immediately  go  before  the  Grand  Jury,  procure  an  indict- 
ment, and  have  this  man,  who  had  moved  a  prince  among 
men,  arraigned  in  the  dock  at  the  Old  Bailey,  there  to  plead 
and  stand  trial  like  any  common  criminal. 

And  he  fled.  Of  course,  like  all  fugitives  from  justice 
throughout  the  Old  World,  he  looked  to  America  for  a  city 
of  refuge,  and  here  he  came.  Not  to  keep  my  readers  too 
long  from  the  main  narrative,  it  will  suffice  to  say  that  soon 
after  his  arrival  he  applied  for  admission  to  the  Bar  of  New 
York,  but  first  he  won  to  his  cause  the  high-souled  Richard 
O'Gorman,  then  a  leader  of  his  profession. 

It  was  for  Edwin  James  a  lucky  stroke,  for  at  this  time 
O'Gorman  was  in  full  possession  of  his  magnificent  pow- 
ers. Few  could  resist  his  magic.  His  great  heart  was 
stirred,  and  he  took  up  the  cause  of  his  friend  as  if  he  had 
been  his  brother.  The  English  lawyer's  reputation  was 
known  to  every  member  of  the  Bar  of  New  York,  and  there 
had  been  and  still  was  a  bitter  opposition  to  his  admission; 
but  when  it  became  known  that  their  eloquent  leader  was 
his  champion,  many  began  to  feel  that  after  all  "the  poor  fel- 
low ought  to  be  given  another  chance,"  and  when  at  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Bar  Association  O'Gorman  in  a  set  oration 
brought  all  his  splendid  eloquence  into  play  the  cause  was 
won. 

Great-hearted  O'Gorman  had  helped  this  lame  dog  over 
the  stile,  but  the  dog's  heart  was  not  in  the  right  place,  and, 
as  my  reader  will  see  in  the  sequel,  he  soon  went  lame 
again.     *     *     * 

In  the  rear  room  of  a  somewhat  luxurious  range  of  offices 
in  a  buildmg  on  Broadway,  facing  the  City  Hall,  four  men 


102  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

were  engaged  in  discussing  what  was  evidently  an  exciting 
topic.  The  door  of  the  main  office  bore  the  sign  "Edwin 
James,  Counselor-at-Law  and  Register  in  Bankruptcy."  He 
was  one  of  the  four.  He  had  failed  lamentably  in  his  efiforts 
to  secure  a  practice.  The  eflfects  of  O'Gorman's  eloquence 
had  in  the  gray  light  of  commonplace  day  faded  away,  the 
more  so  when  the  ideal  his  magic  had  created  in  the  minds 
of  men  was  in  hourly  contrast  with  the  man  himself  and  his 
history.  His  professional  brethren  looked  upon  him  with 
suspicion,  and  there  was  a  general  impression  abroad  that 
his  escapades  were  not  over  yet. 

He  had  launched  out  in  his  office  and  home  somewhat 
extravagantly,  and  now,  once  again  pressed  by  clamorous 
creditors,  he  had  once  more  drifted  upon  the  borderlands  of 
crime,  and  was  here  with  his  companions  planning  a  criminal 
transaction  in  order  to  pay  his  more  pressing  debts. 

One  of  these  four  was  Brea,  who,  with  a  keen  eye  to  busi- 
ness, had  married  the  discarded  daughter  of  a  wealthy  but 
not  over-respectable  New  York  family,  and  he  had,  unsus- 
pected, pulled  the  wires  so  that  James  had  been  employed 
as  the  family  lawyer,  and  in  that  capacity  had  drawn  the  will 
of  the  mother.  She  was  an  imperious,  hot-tempered  body, 
one  who,  when  aroused,  was  accustomed  to  use  language 
more  vigorous  than  polite,  and  who  not  infrequently  went 
to  fisticuffs  with  her  daughters.  The  husband  and  father, 
the  creator  of  the  fortune,  was  dead  and  the  vast  family  prop- 
erty, in  securities,  stocks  and  lands,  was  vested  absolutely  in 
the  mother.  In  the  old  lady's  will  Brea's  wife,  the  second 
daughter  of  the  house  (there  were  no  sons),  was  down  in  the 
very  first  paragraph  for  the  magnificent  sum  of  "one  dollar 
lawful  currency,"  and  her  name  nowhere  else  appeared  in  the 
lengthy  document.  The  old  lady  was  such  a  termagant  and 
so  implacable  in  her  hatreds  that  it  was  a  moral  certainty 
she  would  never  relent  and  change  her  purpose  toward  her 
daughter.     But  James  had  also  drawn  up  a  second  will  of 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  103 

his  own  and  Brea's  concoction,  and  a  precious  piece  of  vil- 
lainy it  was,  in  which  the  wife  was  down  for  legacies  amount- 
ing to  $750,000.  The  genuine  will  James  kept  in  his  own 
possession,  ready  to  destroy  the  very  moment  word  came 
that  the  old  lady  was  an  immortal,  while  the  spurious  will 
was  kept  in  the  vaults  of  the  Safety  Deposit  Company,  there 
to  remain  until  the  death  of  the  testatrix,  when,  of  course,  it 
would  in  due  time  be  produced. 

Brea  had  been  introduced  to  the  other  three  men,  and  cul- 
tivated their  acquaintance  in  the  belief  that  they  would  some 
day  be  useful  to  him.  He  had  a  few  days  before  intro- 
duced them  to  James.  As  a  matter  of  precaution  he  had 
concealed  from  them  all  knowledge  of  the  will.  At  the  same 
time  he  gave  them  a  hint  that  there  was  something  in  the 
wind,  but  that  some  way  must  be  found  to  secure  at  once  a 
few  thousands,  enough  for  a  year  or  two,  until  the  good  time 
came  when  fortune  was  to  lavish  her  favors  on  them  all  with  a 
liberal  hand.  But  money  must  be  had  at  once,  for  Brea  and 
James  were  in  sore  straits,  particularly  James,  who  had  been 
threatened  with  arrest,  and  was  so  far  involved  that  he  always 
entered  and  left  his  house  at  night  in  order  to  escape  importu- 
nate creditors.  This  was  James'  second  interview  with  the 
men,  and  the  first  time  he  had  been  alone  with  them.  He 
saw  at  once  that  he  had  to  do  with  able,  clear-headed  men, 
took  them  into  his  confidence,  and,  in  order  to  excite  their 
hopes  and  to  bind  them  to  him  as  well,  he  confided  to  them 
the  plot  of  the  forged  will,  producing  the  genuine  for  their  in- 
spection. He  assured  them  that  it  was  a  sure  and  speedy 
fortune,  as  the  lady  was  old  and  frail  in  health,  and  he  also 
promised  they  should  share  between  them  $100,000,  pro- 
vided they  would  stand  by  to  give  a  hand  in  the  somewhat 
improbable  event  of  the  other  heirs  disputing  the  will,  but 
above  all,  if  they  would  devise  some  means  to  furnish  him  at 
once  $10,000,  or  at  least  $5,000.  Money  he  must  have,  an4 
he  could  no  longer  do  without  it. 


104  FROM  WALL   STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

The  result  of  our  conference  in  James'  ofHce  was  that  the 
very  next  day  an  office  downtown  was  engaged  under  a  ficti- 
tious name,  and  a  simple,  unsuspicious  fellow  hired  as  porter 
and  messenger.  After  some  little  negotiation,  we  obtained 
particulars  of  parties  banking  with  the  then  great  farm  of  Jay 
Cooke  &  Company,  corner  of  Wall  and  Nassau  streets. 
Briefly  told,  the  result  was  that  four  days  later  a  messenger 
walked  into  their  banking  house  with  a  check  for  $20,000, 
purporting  to  be  signed  by  another  firm,  who  banked  with 
them.  Along  with  the  check  went  a  letter  bearing  a  signa- 
ture well  known  to  the  cashier,  asking  him  to  pay  the  check 
to  bearer.  The  result  of  all  being  that  five  minutes  thereafter 
we  were  walking  unconcernedly  up  Broadway,  and  sending  a 
message  to  James  to  meet  us  at  Delmoiiico's,  corner  of 
Broadway  and  Chambers  street,  we  sat  down  awaiting  his 
arrival.  He  had  anxiously  been  looking  for  news,  and  al- 
most before  we  had  seated  ourselves  he  entered,  eager  and 
anxious-looking;  but,  when  he  glanced  at  our  faces,  a  happy 
expression  came  over  his  own,  and  without  a  word  he  put 
out  his  hand.  After  a  warm  greeting,  I  produced  the  roll, 
and,  to  his  delight,  I  handed  over  to  James  ten  five  hundreds. 
On  the  morrow  I  went  to  the  ofifice,  and,  paying  my  messen- 
ger  a  week's  wages,  besides  making  a  small  gift,  told  him  he 
need  not  come  any  more. 

With  this  twenty  thousand  coup  we  fondly  thought  all 
our  troubles  and  all  our  unlawful  acts  were  ended.  We  now 
had  a  few  thousands,  sufficient  to  last  until  the  $5,000  we  had 
invested  in  the  will  case  should  bring  in  a  dividend  that  would 
mean  a  fortune  for  us  all.  So  we  took  things  easy  about 
town,  and  altogether  thought  ourselves  pretty  good  fellows, 
and  this  world  a  ver\'  good  sort  of  place  to  be  in. 

Thus  the  Winter  passed  by  and  the  Summer  was  at  hand. 
Our  thousands  of  the  year  before  had  dwindled  to  hundreds, 
and  the  old  lady  whose  heirs  we  had  constituted  ourselves 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  105 

seemed  to  have  renewed  her  youth,  and  threatened  to  outlive 
us  all. 

Besides  this  there  had  grown  up  a  repugnance  in  our 
minds  to  the  business,  and  when  one  day  my  friend  Mac  re- 
marked it  was  a  scoundrelly  business  to  rob  the  heirs  of  an. 
estate,  and  they  women,  George  and  I  heartily  acquiesced; 
and  we  vowed  we  would  take  no  part  in  the  matter,  and  then 
and  there  resolved  we  would  throw  both  James  and  Brea 
over,  but  first  to  use  Brea  and  James  for  our  own  purposes. 
Once  more  we  found  ourselves  planning  a  coup  in  Wall 
street.  Talking  the  matter  over,  we  three  soon  had  a  plan, 
and,  being  dowered  with  intense  energy,  it  promised  a  suc- 
cessful termination.  Audaciously  enough  we  determined  the 
lightning  should  strike  once  more  in  the  same  place — that  is, 
to  make  Jay  Cooke  &  Company  again  the  victims.  Irving 
and  his  honest  fellows  were  to  co-operate  by  watching  every- 
thing, and,  if  any  arrest  threatened,  to  be  on  hand  to  make  it 
themselves;  and  then  let  the  prisoner  escape.  Most  impor- 
tant of  all,  when  the  bankers  drove  up  in  hot  haste  to  Police 
Headquarters  to  give  information,  James,  Honest  James, 
would  be  on  hand  to  receive  them,  would  call  in  his  two 
trustys  to  get  with  him  full  particulars  of  the  robbery  and  a 
description  of  the  men.  Then  the  bankers  would  be  sent 
away  with  assurances  that  "we  know  the  men  and  will  have 
them,"  but  at  the  same  time  v/arning  them  to  keep  the  matter 
a  secret  in  order  better  to  enable  them  to  catch  the  villains. 

If  successful,  the  detectives  were  to  receive  25  per  cent, 
between  them.  Our  plan  required  James  to  play  an  impor- 
tant part,  and,  although  no  confederacy  could  be  fixed  on 
him,  yet  he  would  hardly  escape  questioning  and  a  very  con- 
siderable degree  of  suspicion,  so  much  so  that  it  probably 
would  put  an  end  to  any  lingering  remnants  of  character  he 
had  on  hand  or  in  stock.  But  he  was  tired  of  America, 
and  determined  to  go  to  Paris  with  his  share  of  the  plunder. 


106  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Our  visits  to  James  had  always  been  in  his  private  office,  and 
his  clerks  had  never  seen  either  of  us  or  Brea. 

Our  plan  was  to  make  use  of  James'  office  in  a  way  that 
will  appear  later.  As  related,  he  was  suspected  by  his  pro- 
fession, but  the  general  public  thought  him  a  very  great  man. 
He  had  appeared  as  (volunteer)  counsel  in  two  or  three  mur- 
der cases  and  had  delivered  powerful  addresses  which  had 
attracted  considerable  notice  in  the  papers. 

One  day,  soon  after  our  plan  was  matured,  Brea  w^nt  to 
Philadelphia,  and,  by  a  mixture  of  audacity  and  finesse,  pro- 
cured from  Jay  Cooke  himself  (the  parent  house  of  the  New 
York  firm  of  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.  was  in  Philadelphia)  a  letter 
of  introduction  to  the  manager  of  the  New  York  firm.  He 
wanted  the  letter  ostensibly  in  order  to  consult  the  manager 
about  certain  investments  which  he,  as  executor  of  an  estate, 
desired  to  make  for  his  wards. 

The  transaction  was  made  to  appear  as  one  of  considerable 
magnitude,  in  which  there  would  be  large  commissions  paid. 
With  the  grand  send-off  of  a  letter  from  Jay  Cooke  to  his 
subordinate  in  New  York,  the  speculation  opened  well — so 
well  that  we  at  once  decided  what  we  would  do  with  the 
money  when  we  got  it — a  case  in  point  for  the  old  proverb. 
We  had  ascertained  the  name  of  a  Newark  manufacturer  who 
had  recently  failed  in  business.  I  will  call  him  Newman. 
On  the  morning  after  his  return  from  Philadelphia,  Brea  pre- 
sented himself  at  James'  office — it  being  arranged  that  James 
himself  be  out,  so  Brea  told  the  clerk  that  his  name  was  New- 
man, that  he  had  lately  failed  in  business,  and  intended  to 
employ  Mr.  James  to  put  him  through  the  bankruptcy  court. 
The  clerk  told  him  to  come  again  at  12,  and  he  would  find 
Mr,  James  in.  At  12  he  came;  the  clerk  introduced  him. 
James  kept  the  clerk  conveniently  near,  that  he  could  hear 
the  conversation.  Brea,  as  Newman,  told  James  he  had 
used  in  his  business  $240,000  belonging  to  his  wife  and  her 
mother,  and  that  in  scheduling  his  assets  he  proposed  to  use 


VIA   THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  109 

enough  to  make  those  amounts  good,  intending  to  conceal 
the  fact  from  his  creditors.  He  determined  to  invest  the 
amount  in  bonds — so  ran  his  story — and  was  going  to  de- 
posit the  money  in  the  bank  that  very  afternoon,  at  the  same 
time  producing  his  letter  of  introduction  from  Jay  Cooke. 
All  of  this,  of  course,  being  for  the  eye  and  ear  of  the  clerk, 
who  might  be  required  as  a  witness  of  his  employer's  good 
faith. 

Brea-Newman  also  paid  James,  in  presence  of  the  clerk, 
a  retaining  fee  of  $250,  which  was  privately  returned.  James 
banked  in  Jersey  City,  and  when  Newman  said,  "Introduce 
me  at  your  bank,  as  I  want  a  small  credit  handy,"  James  said, 
"My  bank  is  in  Jersey  City."  The  clerk's  brother  was  paying 
teller  at  the  Chemical  Bank,  and,  as  was  expected,  he  at  once 
spoke  up,  saying:  "Let  me  introduce  Mr.  Newman  in  the 
Chemical  Bank,"  so  down  went  Newman  and  the  clerk,  and 
in  ten  minutes  our  man  had  the  Chemical  Bank  checkbook  in 
his  pocket  and  $5,000  to  his  credit  in  the  bank.  The  same 
afternoon  he  presented  his  letter  of  introduction  at  Jay  Cooke 
&  Co.'s,  and  was  cordially  received.  He,  of  course,  told  a 
totally  different  story  there.  In  this  case  a  relative,  lately 
deceased,  had  left  him  an  estate  of  great  value.  He  was,  he 
said,  realizing  on  his  real  estate,  and  buying  bonds  as  fast  as 
his  money  came  in,  and  he  wanted  to  invest  a  million  in  vari- 
ous railway  bonds.  At  present  he  had  $240,000  on  hand, 
which  he  wanted  to  invest  in  Government  bonds.  He  then 
left  for  the  time  being,  leaving  a  good  impression,  which  his 
refined  manner  and  appearance  confirmed. 

So  far  all  was  well ;  that  is,  all  was  well  from  our  point  of 
view.  The  next  two  or  three  days  Brea  paid  several  visits  to 
the  Chemical  Bank,  getting  small  checks  for  $500  and 
$1,000  certified,  and  now  had  his  account  drawn  down  to 
$1,000.  The  day  before  he  had  called  on  Jay  Cooke  &  Co. 
and  told  them  he  would  take  $240,000  in  seven  thirties, 
"Bearer"  bonds,  and  that  he  would  call  the  next  day  and  pay 


no  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEVv'GATE 

for  them.  At  the  same  time  he  got  them  to  give  him  a  pro 
forma  bill  for  them. 

The  eventful  day  had  come,  and  James,  to  get  his  head 
clerk  out  of  the  way,  sent  him  to  the  Admiralty  Court  to 
take  notes  of  the  evidence  in  a  case  going  on  there. 

At  ID  o'clock  Brea  sent  a  messenger  with  a  note  to  the 
bankers,  requesting  them  to  send  the  bonds  to  Edwin  James' 
office,  and  he  would  pay  for  them  on  delivery.  He  could 
not  come  himself,  as  he  was  in  consultation  with  the  execu- 
tors of  the  estate. 

In  the  mean  time  a  check  for  the  full  value  of  the  bonds, 
$240,000,  had  been  made  out.  It  was  drawn  on  the  Chemi- 
cal Bank,  and  was,  in  fact,  similar  to  those  always  given  be- 
tween bankers  on  bond  transactions. 

Brea  had  drawn  his  own  check  for  $240,  and  had  it  in  his 
hatband  with  the  $240,000  dumm.y  check.  The  plan  is  pal- 
pable enough.  When  the  messenger  brought  the  bonds 
Brea,  or  Newman,  was  going  to  say:  "All  right,  I  have  the 
check  here;  bring  the  bonds  and  we  will  go  to  the  Chemical 
Bank  and  get  them  to  certify  my  check."  Then  when  at  the 
bank  he  would  take  out  both  checks,  letting  the  messenger 
only  get  a  glimpse  of  one,  and  that  would  be  the  small  $240 
one,  which  Brea  would  pass  in  through  the  window  with  a 
request  to  have  it  certified.  This  would  be  done,  and  when 
handed  out,  of  course,  Brea  was  to  change  it  and  hand  the 
messenger  the  big  one  of  home  manufacture. 

It  seemed  impossible  for  the  scheme  to  fail,  and  success 
in  it  meant  on  the  surface  comparative  wealth  for  us  all, 
with,  perhaps,  in  the  not  distant  future  an  entrance  through 
the  McAllister-guarded  portals  of  the  Four  Hundred. 

But  here  we  have  a  vivid  instance  of  how  easily  an  elab- 
orate scheme  can  by  the  merest  accident  fall  to  pieces. 

The  night  before  the  expected  coup  we  met  James  for  a 
final  full-dress  rehearsal  for  the  morrow,  and  after  everything 
was  settled  adjourned  to  the  uptown  Delmonico's  for  supper. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  Ill 

It  SO  happened  that  Detective  George  Elder  was  there.  This 
Elder  was  a  bright  fellow,  was  in  a  ring — but  not  in  our  ring 
— and,  of  course,  had  his  bank  account,  diamond  pin  and 
turnout  for  the  road.  He  had  had  some  acquaintance  with 
me,  but  the  rest  of  the  party  were  strangers.  I  did  not  see 
him  at  the  time,  but  it  would  seem  he  was  curious,  even  sus- 
picious, from  some  scraps  of  conversation  he  overheard. 
However,  neither  his  curiosity  nor  suspicion  would  have 
been  of  any  consequence  or  concern  to  us  had  it  not  been 
that,  in  going  out,  Brea  left  on  the  table  with  some  papers 
the  memorandum  or  pro  forma  bill  of  the  bonds  given  him 
the  day  before  by  the  bankers.  Strangely  enough,  the  body 
of  the  bill  alone  was  intact.  The  heading  bearing  the  name 
of  the  firm  and  purchaser  had  been  torn  off  and  destroyed. 

Elder  picked  it  up.  and,  having  some  vague  suspicions  of 
a  plot  somewhere,  he  determined  to  go  around  among  the 
hundred  or  more  bankers  and  brokers  in  and  around  Wall 
street  and  investigate  quietly,  without  making  any  report 
to  his  superiors,  his  immediate  superior  being,  of  course,  our 
honest  friend,  the  worthy  chief  of  the  detective  force,  who 
was  anxiously  looking  for  his  percentage  of  the  deal.  The 
whole  force  was  split  up  into  cliques,  each  intensely  jealous 
of  every  other,  each  with  its  own  stamping  grounds,  and 
each  strictly  protected  his  own  preserves. 

At  9.30  the  next  morning  Elder  started  around  carrying 
the  fragment  of  the  memorandum  he  had  picked  up  from 
bank  to  bank  and  from  one  broker  to  the  other.  He  had 
spent  over  an  hour  making  inquiries,  and  walked  into  Jay 
Cooke  &  Co.'s  ofifice  just  as  the  messenger  was  leaving  with 
the  bonds  for  James'  office.  Fifteen  minutes  more  and  the 
game  was  ours!  Elder  produced  the  memorandum,  and 
they  at  once  recognized  it  as  their  own.  Elder  asked  them 
if  they  knew  their  man  and  were  sure  it  was  all  right.  They 
said  it  was  perfectly  right,  that  Mr.  "Newman"  had  been 
introduced  by  the  head  of  the  firm  in  Philadelphia,  and  was 


112  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

also  a  client  of  Edwin  James;  but  then  it  was  strange  the 
bill  should  be  mutilated.  Elder  averred  his  belief  that  a 
fraud  was  intended,  and  suggested  that  he  and  the  manager 
should  accompany  the  messenger  with  the  bonds.  This 
alarmed  the  manager,  and  he  directed  Elder  and  the  messen- 
ger to  await  his  return.  Seizing  his  hat,  he  started  for 
James'  office  to  investigate.  James  was  there,  and  Brea  (the 
pseudo  Newman)  was  in  the  private  office  with  the  two 
checks  ready,  anxiously  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  messen- 
ger with  the  bonds. 

Myself  and  all  the  other  members  of  our  party  were  near- 
by, watching  and  awaiting  developments.  The  manager, 
considerably  perturbed,  entered  the  office,  and  James  saw 
at  once  the  business  was  a  failure,  for  he  knew,  of  course, 
that  any  suspicion  as  to  good  faith  would  be  fatal  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  plot.  Brea,  hearing  the  voices  and  supposing  it 
was  the  messenger  with  the  bonds,  opened  the  door  of  the 
private  office  and  was  vexed  to  see  the  manager,  who,  shak- 
ing him  by  the  hand,  told  him  the  bonds  would  arrive  soon, 
at  the  same  time  saying:  "1  suppose  you  will  pay  currency 
for  the  bonds?"  To  which  Brea  replied:  "I  will  go  to  my 
bank  with  you  now  and  get  my  check  certified  for  the: 
amount  and  give  it  to  you,  or  leave  it  until  the  messenger 
comes  with  the  bonds." 

This  offer,  along  with  Brea's  coolness,  apparently  dis- 
armed all  suspicions,  and  he  said :  "Oh,  all  right,  the  messen- 
ger will  go  to  the  bank  with  you."  He  left  the  office,  but 
stopped  in  the  hall  for  a  moment,  then  turned  and  hastily  re- 
entering, said:  "By  the  way,  Mr.  Newman,  please  draw  the 
currency  from  the  bank,  and  pay  the  notes  to  the  messenger 
upon  delivery  of  the  bonds." 

So  the  grand  coup  had  failed,  ignominiously  failed,  and 
through  what  appeared  a  trivial  accident.  More  such  "acci- 
dents" at  critical  periods  will  appear  before  this  history  is 
ended. 


VIA   THE   PRIMROSE   WAT. 


113 


The  dummy  check  was  still  in  our  hands,  and  was  at  once 
destroyed,  so,  with  nothing  to  fear,  we  coolly  walked  up 
Broadway  to  dinner,  and  talked  of  the  future  over  a  bottle  of 
wine.  At  last  we  fixed  upon  a  definite  plan.  Clinking  our 
glasses,  we  drank  to  "Eastward,  Ho!" 


MERCHANTS     EXCHANGE,   ILLUMINATED, 


CHAPTER  XI. 

"CRACK   THE    LAWYER'S  VOICE  THAT  HE  MAT  NEVER 
MORE    FALSE  TITLES     PLEAD,     NOR     SOUND 
HIS   QUILLETS    SHRILLY." 

The  Eastward  Ho  was  a  hint  of  a  project  we  had  fre- 
quently talked  over  as  a  possible  speculation.  Here  we  see 
how  men  are  led  on  step  by  step  from  bad  to  worse  when  once 
they  set  out  on  the  Primrose  Way. 

In  returning  from  Europe  with  the  $10,000  commission 
in  my  pocket,  I  vowed  never  again  to  engage  in  any  unlaw- 
ful speculation.  I  was  through!  No  criminal  life  for  me! 
Then  came  the  day  when  we  struck  for  the  $20,000  and  won, 
and  we  were  all  happy  in  the  thought  that  our  last  unlawful 
deed  was  over. 

Then  we  took  the  third  step  we  had  vowed  never  to  take, 
and  had  discussed  the  $240,000  project.  We  had  spent 
money  on  it,  had  laid  our  plans  cunningly  and  deep,  and 
were  confident  of  success.  We  had  even  planned  how  to 
invest  our  thousands  in  an  honest  business,  and  so  win  the 
esteem  of  all  good  men,  and,  of  course,  in  some  happy  future 
would  make  restitution.  But  that  is  a  future  which  never 
comes  in  the  history  of  crime.  These  three  wrong  steps 
had  been  taken  only  after  convincing  ourselves  that  the  cir- 
cumstances justified  each  separate  act. 

Such  is  the  contradiction  of  human  nature  that  even  when 
planning  crime  we  not  only  intended  to  make  restitution, 
but  despised  all  other  wrongdoers  and  reprobated  their 
ai4) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  115 

crimes.  Each  wrongful  act  of  ours  was  to  be  the  last,  and 
it  was  with  something  like  despair  that  we  began  to  realize 
that  there  was  no  stopping  place  on  the  dangerous  road  we 
were  treading. 

My  $13,000  commission  from  the  European  trip  had 
melted  away.  Our  share  of  the  $20,000  got  from  Jay  Cooke 
&  Co.  was  fast  going.  Our  deep-laid  plot  to  win  $240,000 
had  miscarried,  and  now  the  necessity  was  upon  us  of  en- 
gaging in  another  illegitimate  operation  if  we  would  con- 
tinue in  our  life  of  ease  and  luxury. 

For  the  next  few  days  we  did  little  but  dine  and  plan. 
Discussion  followed  discussion,  and  through  them  all  we 
clung  to  the  general  proposition  that  we  would  not  do  any 
more  in  our  particular  line  in  America.  At  last  we  resolved 
to  go  to  Europe  and  realize  the  fortune  that  seemed  to  elude 
our  grasp  at  home. 

We  resolved  to  tell  Irving  in  a  general  way  that  we  were 
going  to  Europe  to  make  some  money,  and  would  pay  him 
and  his  two  fellows  their  percentage.  Then  we  could  (ap~ 
parently)  work  with  impunity;  for,  of  course,  if  we  commit- 
ted a  forgery  in  Europe  and  were  recognized  as  Americans 
— as  probably  we  would  be — the  foreign  police  would  re- 
port the  case  to  the  New  York  police — that  is,  to  Irving — and 
we  should  be  safe  in  New  York. 

Edwin  James  and  Brea  had  dropped  out  of  our  lives  for 
good,  but  as  my  readers  will  be  curious  to  know  of  their 
fate  in  after  times,  I  will  relate  it  in  this  chapter. 

The  morning  our  scheme  on  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.  fell  to 
pieces,  as  soon  as  the  manager  left  the  office,  telling  Brea  he 
was  to  pay  cash  for  the  bonds  in  place  of  the  check,  it  was 
recognized  at  once  that  the  game  was  up,  and  the  only  thing 
remaining  was  to  shield  James  as  much  as  possible.  So  Brea 
left  the  office,  but  first  instructed  the  clerk  to  tell  the  mes- 
senger when  he  came  that  he  had  gone  for  the  money,  and 
would  call  for  the  bonds.     This  was  done,  the  messenger  ar- 


116  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

rived,  being  accompanied  by  Detective  Elder  all  the  time, 
and  took  the  bonds  back  again. 

At  2  o'clock  James  went  down  to  the  bankers,  where  he 
was  well  known,  and  inquired  for  ^Ir.  Newman.  Being  told 
he  was  not  in,  he  said  he  had  made  an  appointment  to  meet 
him  there.  Invited  into  the  inner  office,  the  manager  asked 
him  if  he  had  any  personal  knowledge  of  this  Mr.  Newman, 
and  James  said  no  further  than  that  he  had  called  and  given 
him  a  retaining  fee  of  $250,  and  had  engaged  him  as  legal 
adviser,  etc.  Then  the  manager  produced  a  telegram  he  had 
received  in  answer  to  one  he  had  sent  to  the  Philadelphia 
house,  inquiring  about  Newman,  and  asking  if  his  letter  of 
introduction  was  genuine  or  not  James  read  the  reply;  it 
said  the  letter  was  genuine,  but  that  they  knew  absolutely 
nothing  about  the  man,  and  warned  him  to  be  cautious. 
James  pretended  astonishment,  and  feigned  to  be  very  in- 
dignant, declaring  that  if  Mr.  Newman  did  not  put  in  an  ap- 
pearance within  half  an  hour  he  should  begin  to  fear  a  fraud 
had  been  attempted.  When  the  closing  hour  came  at  3 
o'clock,  the  manager  announced  to  James  that  he  should 
give  the  whole  matter  to  the  press,  but  would  keep  his  name 
out  of  it. 

So  they  parted  with  warm  congratulations  over  their  es- 
cape, the  manager  pretending  to  believe  James  was  an  inno- 
cent tool,  but  no  doubt  with  a  shrewd  suspicion  that  he  in- 
tended to  have  a  finger  in  this  pie,  had  the  pie  ever  been 
baked  and  divided.  Had  the  bankers  been  victimized  they 
would  have  striven  with  all  their  power  to  keep  the  fact  a 
secret  and  forbidden  their  employees  to  breathe  a  word  about 
it  to  any  one.  But  now  the  case  was  different.  All  the 
morning  papers  had  long  accounts  of  the  transaction.  They 
were  absurdly  inaccurate,  but  all  agreed  as  to  the  extreme 
cleverness  of  the  manager,  and  noticed  how  he  had  sus- 
pected, etc.,  while  poor  Elder,  who  both  expected  and  really 
deserved  all  the  glory,  was  not  even  mentioned  in  the  news- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  117 

paper  accounts.  However,  his  feelings  were  soon  after  so- 
laced, as  Irving  informed  us  that  Elder  had  stood  in  on  a 
deal  that  paid  him  well. 

The  $5,000  we  gave  James  eased  up  matters  for  a  time. 
Practice  he  had  none,  but  managed  to  hold  on  in  the  hope 
of  realizing  on  the  Brea  will  matter,  but  getting  deeper  and 
deeper  in  debt.  One  night,  four  years  later,  the  old  lady, 
Brea's  mother-in-law,  had  a  more  than  usually  furious  out- 
break of  temper,  and  fell  to  beating  the  three  daughters  still 
living  with  her.  Before  it  was  over  she  had  attacked  and 
seriously  injured  the  eldest,  and  then  flew  to  her  room  in  a 
passion.  Not  appearing  at  breakfast  the  next  morning  her 
daughter  went  to  her  room,  but  she  was  not  there,  and  the 
bed  was  undisturbed.  Going  to  the  room  that  served  for 
oflfice  and  library,  they  found  the  door,  as  usual,  locked. 
Bursting  it  open  the  poor  old  maids  found  their  mother 
huddled  in  a  comer  of  the  room  dead. 

Truly  a  happy  relief  for  the  daughters.  Poor  girls,  theirs 
had  been  a  hard  life.  Every  suitor  who  tried  to  cultivate 
their  acquaintance  had  been  driven  from  the  door  by  the 
mother,  who  never  spent  a  dollar  on  their  education,  and 
her  death  found  them  all  unused  to  the  ways  of  the  world. 
The  result  was  that  all  became  victims  of  fortune-hunters, 
and  the  unhappy  ladies  only  changed  the  tyranny  of  an  un- 
natural mother  for  the  tyranny  of  a  husband,  who  in  each 
case  wedded  for  wealth  alone,  and  all  three  husbands  were 
uncultured  men.  What  an  experience!  Two  of  the  three 
still  live.     How  sweet  the  rest  of  the  grave  will  be  to  them! 

The  genuine  will  was  destroyed  and  the  "family  lawyer," 
James,  immediately  after  the  funeral,  produced  and  read 
"the  last  will  and  testament"  of  the  dead  woman.  The  four 
sisters  and  a  host  of  poor  relations  were  present  at  the  read- 
ing. When  Sarah,  Brea's  wife,  heard  her  name  read  as  chief 
heir  of  the  vast  estate,  she  was  stunned,  but  if  she  was 
Stunned,  the  rest  of  the  family  were  paralyzed.     Legacies 


118  PROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

were  left  to  many,  small  in  amount,  save  in  the  case  of  the 
other  three  sisters,  who  were  to  have  a  certain  tenement  and 
land  in  Harlem  and  three  thousand  a  year  for  life  out  of  the 
estate.  None  of  those  present  thought  for  a  moment  of 
questioning  either  the  genuineness  of  the  will  or  the  validity 
of  the  testaments,  save  only  a  poor  relation,  a  nephew,  whose 
name  was  down  for  $500.  He  was  indignant  with  the  old 
lady  and  loudly  declared  that  he  would  not  put  up  with  it. 
The  next  day  he  employed  a  briefless  lawyer,  one  that  had 
wit  and  brass  enough  and  who  had  his  way  to  make  in  the 
world,  and  was  determined  to  make  it. 

Without  waiting  for  the  will  to  be  probated  or  having 
legal  authority  to  do  so,  Brea  and  his  wife,  the  very  day  of 
the  funeral,  moved  into  the  house  and  took  possession.  But 
before  the  week  was  out  he  had  persuaded  the  three  old 
maids  that  they  would  be  happier  if  away  from  the  scene  of 
their  parent's  death,  so  he  had  them  installed  in  their  own 
house  at  Harlem,  he  remaining  in  undisturbed  possession, 
waiting  only  for  the  will  to  be  probated  in  order  to  take  pos- 
session of  upward  of  $200,000  in  cash  and  bonds  still  in  the 
custody  of  the  old  lady's  bank.  He  had  full  possession  of 
the  house,  and  with  entire  confidence  waited  to  be  put  in 
legal  possession  of  all.  But  little  did  he  dream  that  at  that 
moment  there  was  one  poor  torn  sheet  of  foolscap  in  the 
library,  casually  thrust  in  a  book,  lying  completely  at  his 
mercy  to  destroy,  if  he  could  only  have  known  it,  which  was 
going  to  tear  all  his  wealth  from  his  grasp  and  drive  him 
forth  a  foiled  plotter,  to  become  an  adventurer  and  ultimately 
to  perish  a  miserable  outcast. 

The  executors  of  the  will  (the  same  in  the  forged  will  as 
in  the  genuine)  were  two  simple  shopkeepers  living  near. 
Eagan  was  the  name  of  the  nephew,  and  to  the  surprise  of  the 
executors  his  attorney  notified  them  he  should  contest  the 
will  on  behalf  of  his  client,  and  warned  them  to  dispossess 
Brea  of  the  house  until  such  time  as  the  law  decreed  it  to 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  119 

be  his  wife's  property.  The  attorney  knew  the  standing  of 
James  in  his  profession,  and,  being  capable  of  pretty  sharp 
practice  himself,  he,  by  some  extraordinary  intuition,  boldly 
asserted  his  belief  that  the  will  was  a  forgery.  The  three 
sisters  declared  they  would  not  contest  the  will,  and  had  Brea 
acted  wisely  by  fixing  it  up  to  give  the  attorney  a  liberal 
fee,  and  Eagan  a  paltry  thousand  dollars,  it  would  have 
ended  there.  But,  feeling  perfectly  secure,  no  doubt  he 
thought  an  appearance  of  firmness  would  strengthen  his  po- 
sition still  more,  and  he  was  so  rash  as  to  denounce  the  at- 
torney as  a  shyster  and  blackmailer. 

The  attorney's  blood  was  up;  he  frightened  the  sisters  into 
supporting  him  in  disputing  the  will,  and  had  Brea  and  his 
wife  ousted  from  the  house  and  the  sisters  reinstalled.  Brea 
then  attempted  negotiations  with  the  attorney.  Cautious  as 
he  was,  he  said  enough  to  convince  the  lawyer  that  for  some 
reason  he  did  not  want  the  case  to  come  before  the  courts; 
still  the  attorney  was  half  inclined  to  join  hands  with  Brea. 
In  the  mean  time  Ezra  (this  was  the  name  of  the  man  of  law) 
had  acquired  great  power  oyer  the  sisters,  and  they  all  looked 
to  him  both  as  champion  and  protector.  He  resolved  to  be 
protector  to  one,  at  least,  paying  assiduous  court  to  Jane, 
the  youngest.  Although  past  30  and  without  education  or 
accomplishments,  she  was  warm-hearted  and  extremely  senti- 
mental, and  a  thrill  went  through  her  tender  heart  when  it 
became  evident  that  Ezra's  attention  pointed  at  her.  She 
quickly  made  him  a  hero,  and  invested  the  thin-shanked, 
narrow-chested,  waspish  attorney  with  a  thousand  tender 
attributes,  and  when,  after  one  month's  acquaintance,  she 
found  herself  alone  with  him  in  the  poky  little  parlor  and 
he  asking  her  to  be  his  wife,  her  woman's  heart  overflowed, 
and  telling  him  she  had  loved  him  from  the  first  hour  tbey 
met  she  threw  herself  into  his  arms,  crying  she  was  the  hap- 
piest and  most  favored  woman  in  the  world.  In  the  midst 
of  the  happy  lovers'  talk  she  ran  to  the  shelf,  took  down  a 


120  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

book,  and,  opening  it,  revealed  a  soiled  sheet  of  paper  and 
asked  her  lover  what  it  was.  His  love  had  given  him  a  gift, 
indeed.  His  trained  eye  recognized  it  at  once  as  a  draft  of 
a  new  will,  in  the  handwriting  of  the  deceased  mother,  and 
dated  the  very  night  of  her  death.  It  was  a  rough  draft,  but 
across  the  bottom  was  drawn  the  bold,  masculine  signature 
of  the  old  lady.  There  were  no  signatures  of  witnesses,  but 
Ezra  was  lawyer  enough  to  know  it  would  stand  and  that 
it  revoked  all  previous  wills.  Calling  in  the  two  elder  sisters 
he  read  the  will  to  their  amazed  ears,  and  then  and  there 
wrote  out  a  full  statement  as  to  the  circumstance  under 
which  it  was  found.  All  four  attached  their  signatures  to 
the  document,  and  when  Ezra  kissed  his  love  a  tender  good 
night  and  went  home,  he  hardly  felt  the  paving  stones  under 
his  feet,  for  he  had  carefully  tucked  away  in  the  inside  pocket 
of  his  vest,  just  over  his  heart,  the  little  soiled  piece  of  paper 
which  told  him  in  unmistakable  terms  that  his  fortune  was 
made,  and  the  wedding  ceremony  once  over,  that  it  was  be- 
yond all  chance  of  change. 

It  would  seem  that  the  old  lady,  after  her  quarrel  with  her 
daughters,  went  to  the  library  in  a  rage  and  made  the  draft  of 
a  new  will.  The  chief  change  in  it,  as  compared  with  the 
old  genuine  will  which  the  conspirators  had  destroyed,  was 
that  it  was  more  favorable  to  Jane,  Ezra's  wife  to  be.  But 
what  gave  Ezra  the  greatest  satisfaction  was  the  fact  that 
Brea's  wife  was  down  by  name  in  the  new  will  for  one  dollar 
lawful  currency.  The  will  was  promptly  filed  and  probated. 
Ezra  gave  bonds  and  was  appointed  one  of  the  executors, 
and  he  had  what  to  him  was  the  immense  satisfaction  of  de- 
nouncing Brea  to  his  face  as  a  forger  and  villain. 

Before  the  discovery  of  the  new  will,  while  it  was  believed 
that  Mrs.  Brea  was  an  heiress  and  her  credit  good,  she  and 
her  husband  had  made  use  of  the  fact,  and  had  incurred 
debts  to  a  large  am.ount.  Brea  got  his  wife  to  indorse  his 
note  for  $10,000,  and  he  borrowed  that  sum  from  the  bankers, 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  121 

but  as  soon  as  the  true  state  of  the  case  was  known,  his  cred- 
itors became  clamorous  and  had  him  arrested  on  civil  suits. 
Unable  to  give  bonds,  he  was  locked  up  in  Ludlow  Street 
Jail,  and  there  he  remained  six  months,  until,  acting  upon 
Ezra's  advice,  the  sisters  agreed  to  pay  all  his  debts  and  give 
him  and  his  wife  $i,ooo  each  if  they  would  live  west  of  Chi- 
cago. This  they  were  forced  to  accept,  and  went  to  Mon- 
tana. Brea  opened  a  saloon  at  Butte  City,  but  he  never 
recovered  his  spirits  again.  He  became  his  own  best  cus- 
tomer, and  that,  of  course,  meant  ruin,  but  what,  after  all, 
killed  him  was  the  knowledge  that  he  had  been  for  more 
than  a  score  of  days  in  full  possession  of  that  old  house  and 
had  spent  scores  of  hours  alone  in  the  old  library,  and  yet 
had  not  discovered  and  destroyed  the  new  will  lying  there  at 
his  mercy. 

The  Sheriff  soon  sold  out  his  saloon,  while  his  wife 
eloped  with  his  best  friend.  Ruined  in  pocket,  health  and 
character,  poor  old  Brea  was  left  bare  to  every  storm  that 
blew.  One  morning,  as  the  sun  was  rising  over  the  town, 
surprising  half  a  dozen  belated  gamblers  in  Ned  Wright's 
saloon  as  they  were  getting  up  to  leave,  they  found  lying 
across  the  threshold  the  body  of  a  man,  ragged,  emaciated, 
forlorn.     It  was  Brea. 

As  soon  as  James  had  read  the  will  he  insisted  upon  hav- 
ing $5,000  from  Brea  at  once,  and  he  got  the  money.  But 
when  that  thunderbolt  of  the  new  will  fell  on  the  two  men, 
James  sadly  recognized  that  fortune  and  he  would  shake 
hands  no  more,  so  far  as  this  world  is  concerned,  and  he  re- 
solved to  chance  returning  to  London  before  the  whole  of 
the  $5,000  he  had  from  Brea  was  gone.  To  London  he 
went;  he  lived  a  few  years  in  extreme  poverty,  driven  to  all 
manner  of  miserable  shifts,  and  at  last  died.  This  man  died 
who  ought  to  have  been  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey,  so 
adding  one  more  brilliant  name  to  the  long  line  of  illustrious 
Lord  Chancellors  from  Thomas  a  Becket  and  Cardinal  Wol- 


122 


FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


sey  down;  but  he,  hating  his  own  soul,  took  the  first  step  in 
wrongdoing,  and,  instead  of  resting  in  the  mighty  Abbey 
and  bequeathing  his  dust  as  a  precious  legacy  to  succeeding 
generations,  perished  forlorn  and  alone,  and  was  buried  in 
a  pauper's  grave. 


GAKHAWAY  S. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

RESTEZ  ICI,  MES  ENFANTS. 

We  all  landed  in  Liverpool  in  the  highest  spirits,  and  at 
once  took  the  train  for  London,  enjoying-  the  novelty  of 
everything. 

It  was  settled  that  George  should  pursue  the  venture  alone 
in  France,  while  I  should  go  with  Mac  to  Germany  to  act  as 
his  second  there.  To  keep  entirely  clear  myself,  but  at  the 
same  time  to  watch  everything,  to  exchange  the  German  notes 
he  obtained  and  to  be  ready  to  help  if  any  one  should  at- 
tempt to  detain  him. 

Therefore,  after  completing  certain  preparations  which 
required  skill  and  considerable  business  knowledge,  wc  de- 
parted to  execute  this  new  and,  of  course,  last  shuffle  for 
fortune. 

We  had  selected  Berlin,  Munich,  Leipsic  and  Frankfort 
as  the  scenes  of  our  operations  in  Germany.  In  France  we 
sought  to  operate  in  Bordeaux,  Marseilles  and  Lyons.  At 
8  p.  m.  Saturday  we  all  crossed  to  Calais  together,  where 
George  said  good-bye,  and,  leaving  us  to  take  the  train  east- 
ward to  Berlin,  he  started  west  to  Bordeaux.  We  were  not 
to  meet  again  until  after  our  hurried  rush  through  the  Con- 
tinent and  our  return  to  London  with  the  proceeds.  Before 
I  give  an  account  of  Mac's  adventure  and  my  own  for  the 
next  three  days  I  will  here  give  George's  narrative  in  his  own 
language,  as  related  to  us  when  we  all  met  again  in  London: 

After  saying  good-bye  to  you  I  arrived  in  Paris  in  due 

(123) 


124  FROM   WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

time,  and  sauntered  about  for  two  hours  until  the  train  left 
for  Bordeaux,  where  I  arrived  at  8  o'clock  Monday  morning, 
and  went  at  once  to  the  Hotel  d'Orient,  and  after  a  bath 
and  breakfast  repaired  to  the  bankers.  As  soon  as  I  pre- 
sented my  letters  of  introduction  they  received  me  with  the 
greatest  consideration,  lavishing  everv  attention  upon  me, 
inviting  me  to  dinner  and  to  a  drive  through  the  city  after- 
ward. I  thanked  them,  and  explained  that  I  was  obliged 
to  decline,  as  my  agent  was  waiting  for  me  at  Bayonne, 
where  I  had  purchased  some  real  estate,  and,  having  been 
recommended  to  their  firm,  I  should  feel  obliged  if  they  would 
cash  my  draft  for  £2,000  and  indorse  it  on  my  letter  of 
credit.  The  manager  replied  that  it  was  the  custom  of  the 
French  bankers  to  require  twenty-four  hours'  notice  before 
drawing  a  check,  and  asked  me  if  the  next  day  would  not 
answer.  "We  shall  be  happy  to  assist  you,"  said  he,  "in 
passing  the  time  pleasantly."  This  was  a  new  custom  to 
me,  but  I  answered  instantly,  expressing  regret  that  the  na- 
ture of  my  business  precluded  delay,  it  being  necessary  that 
I  should  reach  Bayonne  that  night.  "I  suppose,"  continued 
I,  "that  your  bankers  will  not  mind  your  checking  out  a  small 
sum  without  the  usual  notice.  However,  if  it  occasions  any 
embarrassment  or  inconvenience,  I  can  easily  procure  the 
money  elsewhere."  One  of  the  partners  replied  that  their 
bank  would  without  doubt  honor  their  check,  and  the  matter 
should  be  attended  to  at  once.  I  sat  down  for  a  half  hour, 
conversing  on  a  variety  of  topics.  Of  course,  this  was  a  most 
trying  period  to  me;  the  least  show  of  haste  or  anxiety  might 
have  betrayed  me  to  those  lynx-eyed,  experienced  men  of 
business.  In  the  midst  of  our  conversation  an  undercurrent 
of  thought  kept  running  through  my  mind  thus:  "Who 
knows  but  they  have  sent  a  dispatch  to  the  Union  Bank  of 
London,  merely  as  a  matter  of  business  precaution,  and 
that  they  are  delaying  me  to  get  a  reply?  In  that  case  I  shall 
have  a  good  opportunity  to  learn  the  ^ure  French  accent 


THE  RIGHT  HONORABLE  SIR  SIDNEY  WATERLOW, 
Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  1873,  in  official  costume. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  127 

while  passing  my  days  in  the  Bagnio  at  Toulon."  At  last, 
however,  the  amount  was  paid  over  to  me  in  French  bank 
notes.  I  deliberately  counted  them  and  took  leave,  lighter 
in  mind  and  heavier  in  purse  by  50,000  francs. 

I  had  arranged  that  I  would  send  all  the  money  I  obtained 
to  the  Queen's  Hotel,  London,  by  post  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible moment  after  receiving  it,  that  in  the  event  of  any  acci 
dent  to  myself  the  money  should  be  safe. 

After  receiving  the  money  I  inclosed  it  in  a  large  envelope, 
addressing  it  to  the  hotel  in  London.  I  also  wrote  on  the 
envelope:  "Echantillons  de  papier"  (i.  e.,  samples  of  paper), 
after  which  I  threw  it  into  the  postoflfice. 

As  I  wished  to  reduce  the  risk  as  much  as  possible  (the 
train  for  Marseilles  not  leaving  for  three  hours),  I  took  a 
carriage  and  told  the  driver  to  take  me  toward  the  next  sta- 
tion on  the  way  to  that  city.  After  we  were  fairly  out  in 
the  country  I  got  outside  and  sat  with  the  driver,  chatting 
with  him  about  the  country  we  were  driving  through,  arriv- 
ing in  the  village  about  half  an  hour  before  the  train  from 
Bordeaux  was  due.  I  dismissed  my  driver  at  a  small  village 
cabaret  (tavern),  walked  to  the  station,  got  aboard  the  train, 
and  early  the  next  morning  was  in  Marseilles.  I  breakfasted 
at  the  Hotel  d'Europe,  and  looked  over  the  papers  to  see  if 
the  Bordeaux  fraud  had  been  discovered.  As  I  could  see  no 
indication  of  it,  about  10  a.  m.  I  took  a  carriage  and  went  to 
call  on  Messrs.  Brune  &  Co. 

On  making  myself  known  I  was,  as  usual,  received  with 
the  utmost  courtesy,  began  to  talk  business,  and  one  of  the 
firm  got  into  my  carriage  and  rode  with  me  to  his  bank  to 
effect  the  sale  of  my  draft  on  London  for  the  sum  of  £2,500. 
Arriving  at  the  bank  I  took  a  seat  in  the  front  office,  while 
Mr.  Brune  went  into  the  manager's  room  to  introduce  the 
transaction;  the  clerks  eyed  me,  as  I  thought,  suspiciously, 
but  doubtless  only  curiously,  because  they  perceived  I  was  a 
foreigner.  Another  thing  which  I  noticed  sent  a  .;hiver 
8 


128  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

through  me.  After  Mr.  Brune  had  been  a  few  minutes  in 
the  manager's  roon-,  the  bank  porter  stepped  to  the  outer 
door,  closed  and  locked  it.  It  being  but  12  o'clock,  I  im- 
agined the  precautionary  measure  must  be  due  to  my  pres- 
ence. "The  Bordeaux  affair  is  discovered  and  has  been 
telegraphed  all  over  France,"  was  my  first  thought;  "all  is 
over  with  me.     I  am  a  candidate  for  a  French  prison,  sure." 

These  and  a  thousand  other  thoughts  flashed  through  my 
mind  during  the  quarter  of  an  hour  preceding  Mr.  Brune's 
reappearance  with  his  hands  full  of  bank  notes.  I  could 
hardly  believe  my  eyes.  I  had  suppressed  all  signs  of  the 
internal  hurricane  which  raged  during  those  prolonged  mo- 
ments of  suspense. 

Now  the  revulsion  of  feeling  was  so  great  that  I  nearly 
fainted.  However,  by  a  mental  efifort,  I  recovered  my  self- 
possession  and  efTectually  masked  all  inward  convulsions. 

Mr.  Brune  placed  in  my  hands  62.000  francs,  in  notes  of 
the  Bank  of  France,  and  we  then  descended  to  the  carriage 
and  drove  to  my  hotel,  where  we  parted.  I  paid  my  bill,  and 
at  once  made  preparations  to  start  for  Lyons,  which  was  to 
be  the  next  and  last  scene  of  my  operations  in  France. 

As  my  train  did  not  leave  for  three  hours,  I  got  into  a 
carriage  at  some  distance  from  the  hotel  and  was  driven  to- 
ward the  next  station,  located  on  the  beautiful  bay  a  few 
miles  from  Marseilles. 

After  driving  along  the  shore  of  the  bay  for  some  miles 
I  remember  we  met  two  women,  dressed  in  the  quaint  cos- 
tume common  to  that  part  of  the  country,  each  carrying  a 
basket  of  eggs.  I  stopped  the  carriage  and  endeavored  to 
enter  into  conversation  with  the  pair,  but  could  not  under- 
stand a  word  of  their  patois.  I  then  took  a  couple  of  eggs, 
handed  out  a  silver  franc  piece,  and  drove  on,  leaving  two 
astonished  women  standing  in  the  road,  gazing  alternately 
at  the  piece  of  money  and  at  the  back  of  my  carriage.  Arriv- 
ing at  the  station  I  found  it  would  be  an  hour  and  a  half  to 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  129 

train  time,  and  driving  to  a  hotel  on  the  shore  I  ordered 
dinner  to  be  served  in  the  upper  room  of  a  two-storj'  tower 
overlooking  the  bay,  with  Marseilles  in  the  distance.  After 
dining  I  strolled  along  the  beach,  looking  at  •:',ome  queer 
fish  not  found  north  of  the  Mediterranean,  their  colors  vy- 
ing in  brilliancy  with  the  plumage  of  tropical  birds.  Re- 
turning to  the  station  I  took  a  ticket  for  Lyons,  stopping 
oflf  at  Aries  about  sunset,  as  I  wished  to  see  the  amphitheatre 
and  other  relics  of  the  Roman  occupation. 

I  remained  in  Aries  till  midnight,  then  took  the  train,  ar- 
riving in  Lyons  at  9  the  next  morning.  Repairing  to  the 
Hotel  de  Lyons  I  had  breakficst,  and  on  looking  over  the 
papers  became  satisfied  that  as  yet  no  discovery  had  been 
made.  Therefore,  I  resolved  to  carry  out  my  third  and  last 
financial  enterprise  and  then  return  to  London  with  all 
speed. 

I  called  a  carriage  and  drove  at  once  to  the  establishment 
of  Messrs.  Coudert  &  Co.  I  sat  near  the  desk,  conversing 
with  the  head  of  the  firm,  and  opened  a  dispatch  I  sent  from 
Aries,  and,  after  reading,  handed  it  to  him,  saying:  "I  see 
that  I  shall  have  use  for  60,000  francs,  and  must  ask  yiju  to 
cash  a  draft  on  my  letter  of  credit  for  that  amount."  He 
immediately  stepped  to  the  safe,  took  out  a  bundle  of  1,000 
franc  notes,  and  counting  out  sixty,  gave  them  to  me. 

As  it  was  almost  certain  that  the  Bordeaux  fraud  would 
soon  be  discovered,  I  determined,  now  that  my  risky  work 
was  completed,  to  attempt  an  immediate  escape  from  France 
by  way  of  Paris  and  Calais.  I  did  not,  therefore,  take  the 
train  direct  from  Lyons  to  Paris,  but  engaged  a  carriage  and 
drove  back  to  a  junction  toward  Marseilles.  Here  I  took 
a  train  which  intersects  further  to  the  northward  with  another 
road  leading  through  Lyons  to  Paris.  After  going  the 
roundabout  route  above  described,  I  was  back  at  the  Lyons 
station  at  9  p.  m.  in  a  train  bound  for  Paris,  where  I  arrived 
without  further  incident. 


130  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

The  next  morning  (Sunday)  as  I  left  the  railway  station 
I  thought  detectives  were  watching  me,  but,  in  all  proba- 
bility, it  was  only  the  imagination  of  a  guilty  conscience.  I 
was  then  wearing  a  full  beard,  and  as  a  precautionary  meas- 
ure I,  that  morning,  had  all  shaved  off  save  the  mustache. 
Not  daring  to  leave  Paris  on  the  through  express,  which 
started  at  3  o'clock  p.  m,,  nor  to  purchase  a  ticket  to  either 
Calais  or  London  direct,  I  went  to  the  station  and  took  the 
noon  accommodation  train,  which  went  no  further  toward 
Calais  than  Arras,  a  town  some  thirty  miles  from  Paris.  I 
arrived  there  about  i  p.  m. 

As  it  would  be  a  couple  of  hours  before  the  express  train 
was  due,  I  went  to  a  <?maU  hotel  and  ordered  dinner.  To 
while  away  the  time  I  took  a  stroll  through  the  main  street, 
where  were  many  mothers  and  nurses  with  children,  nice 
black-eyed  French  babies.  As  I  was  always  a  devoted  lover 
of  children  and  other  small  creatures,  I  stepped  into  a  shop 
and  bought  a  package  of  confectionery,  which  I  distributed 
among  the  little  ones  and  their  3mil:ng  nurses,  receiving 
therefor,  almost  invariably,  the  grateful  exclamation,  "Merci, 
Monsieur!"  I  gave  some  to  children  8  and  10  years  old,  a 
crowd  of  whom  soon  gathered  about  me.  Perceiving  that  I 
was  attracting  too  much  attention,  it  was  clear  that  I  must 
get  rid  of  my  young  friends  as  soon  as  possible,  or  the  police 
might  also  be  attracted,  and  their  presence  would  lead  to 
unpleasant  results  in  case  the  frauds  Iiad  been  discovered 
and  inquiry  was  being  made  for  an  Englishman.  Purchas- 
ing a  second  supply  of  candies  I  hastily  gave  them  out,  and 
with  a  "Restez  ici,  mes  enfants,"  I  passed  through  them  and 
continued  my  walk  up  the  street.  Quite  a  number  followed 
at  a  respectable  distance,  and  I  was  cogitating  how  to  double 
on  them  when  I  came  to  the  gateway  of  the  town  cemetery, 
through  which  I  hastily  entered.  The  children  remained 
outside  and  watched  me  as  I  walked  up  the  slope  and  dis- 
appeared.    At  the  rear  of  the  cemeten'  I  observed  an  old 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY. 


131 


man  at  work  in  the  adjoining  field.  I  climbed  upon  the 
stone  wall,  which  instantly  crumbled  away,  and  I  was  landed 
on  the  old  Frenchman's  domain  without  leave,  amidst  a  pile 
of  stones.  Startled  by  the  racket,  he  looked  up  from  his 
digging,  and,  seeing  a  stranger  uprising  from  the  ruins  of  the 
fence,  began  consig^ning  him  to  "le  diable,"'  with  a  volley  of 
vigorous  French  expletives  delivered  in  peasant  patois.  I 
listened  to  him,  much  amused  for  a  moment,  and  then  held 
up  a  five-franc  piece.  As  soon  as  he  beheld  it  a  wondrous 
change  came  over  him.  He  eagerly  seized  the  silver  and 
straightway  showed  me  to  a  lane  which  led  almost  directly  to 
the  railway  station.  I  purchased  a  ticket  for  Calais  and  took 
the  Sunday  afternoon  express,  and  here  I  am. 


OLD    EDINBURGH   STREET. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

WB     TALK     OF     THE      STARS      AND     DO     THE     OTHER 

THING. 

After  we  saw  George  ofif  to  Paris  on  the  train  Mac  and  I 
walked  up  and  down  the  platform  outside  of  the  station,  star- 
gazing. Mac,  with  his  brilliant  scholarship,  elegant  speech, 
logical  force  and  fiery  enthusiasm,  made  a  most  fascinating 
^companion. 

The  study  of  mankind  is  man,  the  old  proverb  says,  but 
like  many  other  proverbs  there  is  a  full  measure  of  unreality 
in  it.  It  takes  a  good  amount  of  arrogance  and  conceit  for 
one  to  fancy  he  is  going  to  study  and  understand  men.  No 
man  can  understand  himself,  and  by  no  amount  of  experi- 
ence or  study  will  he  ever  come  to  understand  that  subtle 
thing,  he  calls  his  mind  or  understand  the  motives  that  sway 
him. 

I  only  wish  one  of  those  scientists  who  amuse  themselves 
by  pretending  to  study  and  understand  human  minds  and 
motives  could  have  sat  in  Mac's  brain  that  night,  have 
thought  his  thoughts  and  heard  his  speech,  while  remaining 
ignorant  of  our  history  and  mission.  Mac's  mind  was  a 
storehouse  of  erudition,  his  memory  a  picture  gallery,  whose 
chambers  were  gilded  and  decorated  with  many  a  glowing 
canvas.  As  a  child  he  was  familiar  with  the  Bible,  the  Old 
Testament  particularly,  and,  improbable  as  it  seems,  ^vas  still 
a  diligent  student  of  Holy  Writ.  His  mind  was  completely 
saturated  with  Bible  imagery,  yet  there  we  were  with  oup 
(132) 


FROM   WALL   STREET   TO   NEWGATE.  133 

pockets  full  of  forged  documents  walking  up  and  down  that 
platform  star-gazing,  while  he  talked  with  intelligent  enthu- 
siasm of  those  silver  flowers  in  the  darkened  sky,  of  stellar 
space,  how  in  its  infinity  it  proved  the  presence  of  Deity. 
That  with  him  there  was  no  great  and  no  little.  That  a 
thought  sweeping  across  the  God-given  mind  of  an  infant 
w^as  as  wonderful  and  as  much  an  evidence  of  power  as  the 
millioned  arch  of  radiant  suns  in  the  milky  way.  While 
speeding  through  Belgium  on  our  way  to  the  Rhine,  he  con- 
tinned  until  the  sun  shone  upon  the  horizon.  It  was  some- 
thing to  stir  one's  enthusiasm  to  see  his  sublime  faith  in  the 
mighty  destiny  of  man,  and  to  listen  to  him  tell  of  the  dignity 
and  grace  of  every  human  soul  and  his  sure  faith  that  all 
would  be  garnered  in  the  mighty  plains  of  heaven,  and  he 
meant  and  felt  it  all;  yes,  meant  all  he  said,  believed  all  he 
said,  believed  that  he  himself  was  a  potent  factor  in  the  Divine 
economy,  and,  furthermore,  believed  it  behooved  every  man 
to  do  all  things,  to  be  all  things  good  and  true,  yet  on  this 
Sunday  morning  we  w^ere  fast  speeding  to  the  scene  of  our 
contemplated  schemes,  and  with  light  hearts  looked  forward 
to  a  speedy  return  to  London,  fairly  well  laden  with  plunder. 

We  talked  the  whole  night  through,  or  rather  Mac  talked 
and  I  listened,  and  it  was  a  treat  to  be  a  listener,  he  being 
the  speaker. 

A  period  was  put  to  his  oration  by  the  train  stopping  at 
Luxemburg,  we  being  summoned  to  breakfast. 

On  resuming  our  journey  we  took  a  nap,  and  when  we 
awoke  we  found  ourselves  nearing  the  Rhine;  about  noon 
we  arrived  at  Cologne,  and  going  to  Uhlrich  platz,  drank  a 
bottle  of  Tokay  in  a  fam.ous  wine  cellar  there,  then  hurrying 
back  to  the  station  we  traveled  across  the  sandy  plain  that 
stretches  from  near  the  Prussian  border  to  the  capital.  We 
arrived  soon  after  dark,  and  Mac  went  at  once  to  the  Hotel 
Lion  de  Paris  and  registered.  I  waited  across  the  street  in 
the  shadow  of  the  Empress  Palace.     Mac  soon  came  out, 


134  FROM   WALL,  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

and  we  went  to  dine  in  a  large  cafe.  We  enjoyed  the  novelty 
of  the  scene,  and  were  never  tired  of  marvehng  over  the  all- 
predominant  militarism.  Soldiers  everywhere,  all  with  good 
lungs  and  loud  voices.  We  spent  the  evening  seeing  the 
town;  at  midnight  we  parted  to  meet  and  breakfast  together 
at  the  cafe  at  8.  I  then  went  to  an  obscure  hotel  and  soon 
was  in  the  land  of  dreams.  In  the  morning  I  awoke  with  an 
anxious  feeling,  and  found  myself  wishing  it  were  night.  At 
8,  the  appointed  time,  I  met  Mac.  He  may  possibly  have 
felt  some  anxiety;  if  so,  it  was  invisible. 

When  an  honest  man  makes  a  mistake  he  has  not  only 
sympathy,  but  can  always  pick  himself  up  again.  With  a 
rogue  a  mistake  may  easily  be  and  almost  always  is  fatal. 
We  feared  the  unseen  and  the  unexpected.  Above  all,  our 
imagination  magnified  the  danger  while  tormenting  us  with 
needless  fears.  In  Germany  the  banks  open  at  9  o'clock, 
and  we  knew  they  would  receive  soon  after  8  the  letter  we 
had  deposited  in  the  mail  in  London.  We  decided  that  it 
would  be  best  for  Mac  to  enter  the  banker's  at  five  minutes 
after  9.  ^  We  had  discovered  the  night  before  the  location 
of  the  firm.  During  breakfast  Mac  went  carefully  through 
his  pockets,  taking  out  every  scrap  of  paper  and  turning 
everything  over  to  me;  then  taking  out  from  among  the 
others  in  our  bag  the  letters  of  credit  and  introduction  we 
made  our  last  scrutinv  of  them.  Wc  had  not  settled  upon 
the  amount  he  should  ask  for,  but  agreed  that  it  should  not 
in  any  case  be  less  than  25,000  gulden  ($10,000).  If  every- 
thing seemed  favorable  then  Mac  was  to  use  his  own  judg- 
ment and  demand  any  sum  under  100,000  gulden  ($40,000). 
His  letter  of  credit  was  for  £10,000,  and  we  did  not  want  to 
leave  it  behind.  Of  course,  if  we  drew  any  less  sum  than 
the  amount  the  credit  called  for,  the  sum  we  drew  would  be 
indorsed  on  the  letter,  and  it  would  be  returned  to  Mac  and  be 
instantly  destroyed.  So  with  the  documents  in  his  pockets  and 
giving  me  a  smile,  out  he  went,  and  I  followed  after,  keeping 


"BOYS.    THAT    IS    THE    SOFTEST    MARK    IN      THE      WORLD."— Page   145. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  135 

him  in  sight,  and  very  anxious  I  was.  We  were  on  Unter  den 
Linden.  Walking  one  square  and  turning  to  the  left  half  a 
block  away  were  the  bankers — Hebrew,  by  the  way.  I  saw 
Mac  saunter  up  thj  al^ps  and  disappear  from  view.  Out- 
side of  America  'V«p-  -transactions  are  carried  on  with  the 
utmost  deliberatir  y  an  American  with  exasperating  slow- 
ness; so  I  thought  ly.'^Ah\e:  he  might  remain  invisible  for  a 
whole  half-hour,  a  A.  long  half-hour  it  would  be  to  me.  In 
order  to  have  my  anxiety  shortened  by  even  a  half  minute 
we  had  arranged  that  when  he  came  out  if  he  had  the  money 
he  was  to  stroke  his  beard  as  a  signal.  If  it  was  all  right, 
but  delayed,  he  was  to  put  his  handkerchief  to  his  face,  but 
if  everything  was  wrong  he  was  to  clasp  his  hands  across 
his  breast  for  a  moment. 

In  that  event  I  was  to  keep  a  lookout  to  see  if  he  was  fol- 
lowed; if  so,  I  was  to  give  him  a  signal,  when  he  would  go 
straight  to  his  hotel — in  passing  through  would  dispose  of 
his  tall  hat,  and  put  on  the  soft  hat  he  had  in  his  pocket — 
then  pass  out  the  back  entrance  and  hasten  to  a  certain  hat 
shop,  where  I  would  meet  him,  and  take  a  cab  to  a  little 
town  six  miles  away,  called  Juterbock,  where  all  trains  going 
south,  west  and  east  stopped.     While  driving  out,  we  would 
settle  on  some  plan ;  but  this  emergency  did  not  arise.     I  had 
stationed  myself  in  a  little  shop  across  the  street,  and  from 
that  vantage  ground  was  watching  for  Mac's  reappearance, 
and  just  as  I  had  settled  myself  for  a  weary  watch  out  he 
came,  smiling  and  stroking  his  beard.     A  moment's  glance 
satisfied  me  he  was  not  followed.       I  hastened  after,  and, 
coming  up  with  him  as  he  turned  the  comer,  he  merely  said 
2,600  pounds  ($13,000).       It  seemed  too  good  to  be  true, 
and  I  said:  "I  don't  believe  you."     He  replied:  "It  is  all  right, 
my  boy;  here  it  is,"  at  the  same  time  thrusting  a  big  package 
containing  gulden  notes  into  my  hand.     We  instantly  sepa- 
rated, I  iiastening  to  dififerent  but  near-by  brokers'  offices, 
buying  for  nearly  the  full  amount  French  bank  notes  and 


136  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

gold.     We  went  straight  to  the  hatter's  and  bought  one  of 

those  broad-brimmed  German  student  hats,  which,  when  he 

had  placed  it  on  his  head,  put  on  a  pair  of  spectacles  and 

parted  his  flowing  beard  in  the  middle,  made  '•'^rh  -  *^^-; 
^  °  '  sUcii  sl  lians- 

formation  in  his  appearance  that  I  mvse'f  "t     ,  i,a.ve  oassed 

him  unrecognized.     In  the  mean  tir^         ,     ,     •  i  ^^  r^,-,^  o 
,  ,  .  '='        . ,  ,     ,  .  -  had  picked  out  a 

cabdnver,  a  stupid-lookmg,  conserva^r.  .  _     » j  f_7 

1  J  J  u-      .     J  •       »    •  cive-appearmg  old  tel- 

low,  and  engaged  him  to  dnve     m    ,         ,        • r-^^i.^r 

u  J  ^    u     1  "     c  ^      ^  .1  iich  und  memen  f-- 

nach  Juterbock.       bo  we  entered  tl         ,.  ^  one-horse 

rr  •  1  1  f       1  AC  cab,  an  op.-" 

affair,  and  started  for  that  town.    ,C:M  ,jective  point 

was  Munich,  but  as  the  train  did  "  y  ,  a . ..  antil  noon  we 
preferred  to  spend  the  time  in  a  plea;,  rit  "drive,  and  at  the 
same  time  make  assurance  of  our  escape  doubly  sure. 
Around  Berlin  the  country  is  flat  and  uninteresting.  Our 
driver  was  a  crabbed  old  fellow,  but  we  managed  to  extract 
some  amusement  out  of  him. 

What  pleased  us  greatly  was  to  see  him  from  time  to  tin]e 
take  out  from  under  his  seat  a  loaf  of  black  bread  and  cut 
off  a  slice  for  himself  and  one  for  his  horse,  and  then,  seeing 
we  were  in  no  hurry,  he  would  get  down,  and,  walking  beside 
the  horse,  would  feed  him  and  himself  at  the  same  time. 
When  we  arrived  at  Juterbock  we  had  an  hour  to  spare,  so 
we  drove  to  an  inn,  and  ordering  a  bottle  of  Hochheimer  for 
ourselves  and  beer  and  pretzels  for  our  driver,  we  passed  the 
time  pleasantly.  In  the  mean  time  we  had  touched  a  match 
to  the  letter  of  credit,  and  at  train  time  we  went  by  separate 
routes  to  the  depot.  Each  purchased  his  own  ticket ;  to  Nu- 
remberg mine  was,  his  to  some  near-by  city,  and  at  12.30  we 
boarded  the  train  and  were  off  for  Munich  and  more  profit 
there  on  the  morrow. 

Late  at  night  we  arrived,  and  after  locating  the  bank  we 
went  to  a  theatre,  where  a  variety  show  was  going  on,  and 
found  the  performances  good;  quite  up,  in  fact,  to  similar 
exhibitions  here.  When  the  house  closed  we  separated  for 
the  night,  each  going  to  a  different  hotel.    Our  plan  was  to 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  137 

secure  all  the  cash  we  could  in  Munich  in  time  to  take  a  train 
that  left  for  Leipsic  a  little  before  lo  o'clock,  arriving  there 
soon  after  i,  in  time  to  visit  the  Leipsic  bank  the  same  day; 
then  leaving  the  cit;^^  that  night  we  would  be  in  Frankfort 
early  on  Wednesday.  We  would  then  make  all  haste  to  es- 
cape from  Germany  to  the  shelter  of  mighty  London. 

Tuesday  morning  at  7  we  met  at  a  restaurant,  as  agreed, 
and  soon  had  over  again  our  Berlin  experience;  but  the 
amount  we  obtained  here  was  only  12,000  gulden  (£1,000), 
Mac  thinking  "it^  best  t'  ^sk  for  a  small  sum,  Munich  not  be- 
ing much  of  a  comtiit  icial  city.  In  cashing  his  credit,  al- 
though the  amount  was  in  gulden,  the  bank  paid  him  in  New 
Saxon  thalers,  the  thaler  being  70  cents.  We  did  not  like 
the  new  thaler  notes,  and  wanted  to  change  them  there,  but 
there  was  no  time  if  we  were  to  catch  the  10  o'clock  train. 
I  had  Mac's  derby  hat  in  a  box,  and  in  three  minutes  he  had 
the  hat  and  spectacles  on,  and,  with  his  beard  again  parted, 
the  transformation  was  complete,  and  he,  a  perfect  picture 
of  the  dreamy  German  student,  sauntered  down  to  the  depot 
and  bought  his  ticket  for  Leipsic.  I  followed  him,  carrying 
all  the  cash  and  documents  in  my  bag.  We  arrived  at  Leip- 
sic soon  after  dinner.  Times  were  brisk,  with  plenty  of  bustle 
there,  for  the  great  Leipsic  fair  was  in  full  blast.  Here  was 
an  opportui. ity  missed;  we  ought  to  have  had  three  or  four 
letters  to  as  many  banks.  The  place  was  thronged  and  the 
banks  were  paying  out  and  receiving  money  in  thousands. 
On  the  train  I  had  sat  apart  from  Mac,  but  in  the  same  com- 
partment, which  was  filled.  Arriving  at  Leipsic  he  left  the 
train,  and,  walking  up  the  street,  entered  a  wine  room,  wl:ere 
I  joined  him.  He  scrutinized  his  letters  carefully,  and,  plac- 
ing them  in  his  pocket,  in  five  minutes  was  in  the  bank. 
Seeing  the  bank  was  full  of  customers,  instead  of  remaining 
outside  to  watch,  I  entered  and  stood  among  the  crowd,  anx- 
ious, of  course,  but  letting  nothing  escape. 

Instead  of  waiting  or  trying  to  transact  his  business  with 


138  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

a  subordinate,  Mac  demanded  to  see  the  head  of  the  firm. 
He  was  received  at  once,  and  upon  the  production  of  his 
letters  was  treated  with  the  utmost  consideration.  He 
asked  for  50,000  gulden  ($20,000),  which  was  given  him  at 
once.  The  amount  for  fair  time  at  Leipsic  was  not  large. 
In  a  very  short  time  the  business  was  done.  The  money 
being  paid  in  gulden  notes,  it  made  a  pretty  big  bundle.  As 
agreed  upon,  he  went  direct  to  the  cafe,  carrying  the  money, 
while  I  stopped  at  a  broker's  office  and  bought  French  mon- 
ey, notes  and  gold,  for  my  new  Saxon  thalers.  There  the 
transformation  scene  was  re-enacted,  but  we  could  not  leave 
town  until  5  o'clock.  We  spent  the  time  visiting  the  famous 
fair.  Leipsic  overflowed  with  the  fair.  It  was  fair  on  tlie 
brain  with  every  L."ne.  This  annual  fair  has  been  a  yearly 
feature  of  the  old  city  for  four  centuries,  and  drav'S  to  it  peo- 
ple from  all  over  the  European  world,  even  from  furthest 
Russia.  Soon  after  5  o'clock  we  were  on  the  train,  but,  for 
some  reason  which  I  now  forget,  we  did  not  arrive  imtil  10 
o'clock  the  next  day  at  Frankfort. 

Frankfort,  the  home  and  still  the  fortress  of  the  Roth- 
schilds. 

In  Frankfort  the  Bourse  opens  at  10  a.  m.,  and  closes  at  2. 
During  those  hours  the  bankers  are  to  be  found  on  the  Ex- 
change only,  and  not  at  their  offices.  Many  of  the  offices  are 
then  deserted  and  fast  locked.  It  proved  to  be  the  case  wirh 
the  firm  to  which  our  letters  were  addressed,  and  if  we  were 
to  do  any  business  in  Frankfort  we  had  of  necessity  to  wait 
until  2  p.  m.,  but  as  it  was  now  Wednesday  and  the  third  day 
since  our  affair  in  iJerlin,  the  first  draft  drawn  on  London,  if 
promptly  mailed,  would  probably  have  been  delivered  at  the 
Union  Bank  this  morning.  Of  course,  as  soon  as  ihe  mana- 
ger of  the  foreign  department  found  a  draft  for  a  large  sum 
drawn  by  a  stranger  and  made  payable  to  their  correspond- 
ent in  Berlin,  he  would  at  once  surmise  that  a  fraud  had  been 
committed  and  undoubtedly  would  send  a  telegram  to  Ger- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  139 

many  to  that  effect.  The  forgery  once  known  in  Berlin,  the 
rumor  of  it,  with  a  thousand  exaggerations,  might  easily 
fly  to  every  Bourse  in  Europe,  and  I  feared  that  by  2  o'clock 
the  story  might  possibly  become  known  on  the  Frankfort 
Exchange.  So  far  we  had  $43,000,  the  result  of  our  two 
days'  operations,  but  we  had  from  the  first  great  hopes  of 
Frankfort,  chiefly  because  it  was  the  money  centre  of  the 
Continent,  therefore  the  bankers  were  used  to  handling  large 
sums  of  money,  and  so  long  as  everything  was  all  right  they 
would  hand  out  any  sum,  however  large.  We  really  ought 
to  have  taken  in  Frankfort  first.  Had  we  done  so,  we 
probably  would  have  left  the  town  with  $50,000. 

Soon  as  we  arrived  we  went  to  a  cafe,  and,  leaving  Mac 
there  and  all  the  money  and  papers  in  the  bag,  I  hastened  to 
the  bankers,  hoping  to  find  them  open  and  ready  for  busi- 
ness. In  that  case  I  should  have  talked  business — that  is. 
about  having  letters  of  credit,  etc. — and  I  could  probably 
have  told  by  their  actions  if  any  rumors  of  our  transaction 
of  the  two  preceding  days  had  reached  the  city.  Had  this 
been  so  the  bankers  would  have  betrayed  it  by  their  looks 
and  questions,  and  would  have  been  anxious  to  see  my  cred- 
its. Had  such  questions  been  asked,  I  would  have  simply 
said  that  my  letters  of  credit  had  not  yet  arrived  from  Paris. 
This  would  have,  of  course,  thrown  them  off  the  track,  and 
given  us  time  to  move  off. 

But  when  I  arrived  I  found  the  doors  locked.  I  at  once 
returned  to  Mac  and  said:  "We  are  through;  let  us  catch  the 
train  for  Cologne  at  once."  He  was  anxious  to  wait  until 
4  o'clock  and  make  a  dash.  We  both  knew  the  Germans 
were  slow,  and  might  not  think  of  using  the  telegraph,  and 
we  agreed  that  we  had  more  than  an  even  chance  of  success; 
but  Mac  said :  "My  boy,  you  are  my  manager,  and  I  leave  it 
for  you  to  decide."  Then  I  said  we  were  through,  and  that 
he  should  take  no  more  chances ;  so  we  settled  it  right  there. 


140  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

in  the  little  French-German  cafe,  and  taking  out  all  the  letters 
and  every  scrap  of  paper  we  destroyed  them. 

This  decision,  of  course,  brought  a  great  relief — for  the 
strain  had  been  greater  than  either  of  us  had  been  willing 
to  confess  to  the  other.  So,  easy  in  mind,  we  ordered  lunch. 
Of  course,  we  would  have  no  news  of  George  until  we  met 
in  London.  We  had  no  anxiety  about  him; we  felt  certain 
he  would  come  out  all  right.  While  waiting  for  the  train 
we  discussed  the  future,  and  took  it  for  granted  that  he  would 
secure  as  much  as  we  had  done.  We  counted  ourselves  pos- 
sessors of  $90,000.  Of  this,  fully  $10,000  would  go  to  our 
three  honest  detectives  in  New  York ;  we  would  spend  about 
another  $10,000,  leaving  us  about  $23,000  each.  Making 
this  calculation,  we  sat  down,  and  with  the  cash  safe  in  our 
hands  we  began  planning  for  the  future.  Did  we  say:  "Now 
we  have  a  sum  of  money  ample  to  start  us  in  an  honest  busi- 
ness, and,  as  we  have  promised,  we  will  quit?"  Nothing  of 
the  kind ;  we  simply  ignored  our  many  promises  and  resolu- 
tions. Our  ideas  had  grown  with  our  success,  and  we  felt 
poor;  so  we  quickly  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  the 
part  of  wisdom,  since  we  were  already  so  far  in,  to  secure 
$100,000  each,  and  then  to  call  a  halt;  so  there  in  Frankfort, 
in  the  very  hour  of  our  success,  we  found  ourselves  planning 
new  schemes,  and  further  down  the  Primrose  Way. 

Soon  after  the  noon  hour  the  train  started,  but  first  I  took 
Mac's  tall  hat  to  the  hatter's  and  left  it  to  be  ironed,  this, 
of  course,  to  get  rid  of  it,  and  leave  no  trace  behind;  then, 
returning  to  the  cafe,  we  started.  I  fell  behind  and  we  made 
our  way  separately  to  the  depot.  Mac  had  absolutely  noth- 
ing about  him  save  $2,000  in  French  paper  and  gold.  I  had 
over  $40,000  in  notes  and  some  gold  in  my  bag.  He  bought 
a  ticket  for  Amsterdam,  and  I  one  for  Belgium,  both  taking 
us  through  Cologne.  I  saw  him  safe  into  a  car,  while  I 
sauntered  carelessly  up  and  down  the  station,  swinging  my 
bag  and  staring  at  everything;  as  the  train  was  about  to  start 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  141 

I  entered  another  carriage.  The  railway  from  Frankfort  to 
Cologne  follows  the  river  bank  for  the  entire  distance.  We 
quickly  passed  Bingen,  Mayence,  Coblenz,  and  about  dusk 
reached  Cologr.e.  This  is  an  important  junction,  and  here 
we  had  to  change  cars,  having  twenty  minutes  to  wait.  Both 
of  us  went  direct  to  the  cathedral.  It  is  close  to  the  station, 
and  there  we  had  a  few  minutes'  talk.  Here  Mac  threw  away 
his  ticket  to  Amsterdam  and  I  gave  him  mine  to  Brussels. 
We  agreed  to  take  separate  cars  at  the  station,  but  at  the 
first  stopping  place  I  was  to  join  him  in  his  compartment, 
for  we  had  before  us  an  all-night  ride  to  Ostend  (the  rival 
port  to  Calais),  where  we  would  embark  for  Dover.  At  the 
depot  I  purchased  a  ticket  to  London  via  Ostend.  We  left 
Cologne  all  right,  and  at  the  first  station  out  I  alighted  and 
joined  him. 

We  had  a  pleasant  all-night  journey,  arriving  very  early 
the  next  morning  at  Ostend.  How  lovely  the  sea  looked, 
with  the  morning  sun  shining  on  its  restless  waves! 

We  got  to  Dover  without  accident,  and  two  hours  after 
the  express  landed  us  in  London,  and  we  drove  at  once  to 
our  appointed  rendezvous,  the  Terminus  Hotel,  London 
Bridge.  We  had  no  news  of  George,  but  that  evening, 
opening  the  door  in  response  to  a  loud  knock,  he  walked  in, 
receiving  a  boisterous  welcome. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

I  PLAY  THE  SILVER  KING. 

The  next  morning  we  all  drove  to  Hampton  Court,  the 
creation  of  Wolsey,  and  when  tired  we  went  to  the  Star  and 
Garter.  There  we  talked  over  matters,  and  came  to  the  con- 
clusion we  must  have  a  hundred  thousand  apiece  before  we 
could  afford  to  settle  down  at  home. 

We  resolved  to  send  oflf  the  "percentage"  to  Irving  &  Com- 
pany, and  to  pay  all  debts  we  were  owing  at  home. 

Mac's  heart  went  out  to  his  father.  He  longed  for  a 
reconciliation,  and  he  determined  to  send  him  $10,000  and 
so  make  good  the  money  his  father  had  given  him  to  estab- 
lish himself  in  New  York,  at  the  same  time  write  the  old  gen- 
tleman he  had  made  a  big  strike  in  a  cotton  speculation,  in 
order  to  explain  his  having  so  large  a  sum  to  spare. 

Our  accounts  were  pretty  well  mixed  up,  and  I  hit  upon 
a  novel  way  to  settle  them  and  give  each  of  us  an  equal  start. 
My  proposal  was  that  we  should  pool  everything.  To  put 
every  dollar  we  had  in  the  world  on  the  table  then  and  there, 
and  let  the  firm  assume  all  obligations,  purely  personal  as 
they  were,  save  only  the  Irving  "percentage,"  and  pay  them 
from  the  general  fund,  then  divide  the  balance.  This  was 
agreed  to,  and  the  queerest  balance  sheet  ever  made  out  was 
soon  ready. 

We  all  had  planned  certain  gifts  and  presents  to  friends  in 
America,  a  considerable  sum  in  the  aggregate ;  all  the  cost  of 
this  was  assumed  by  the  firm.  The  main  item  was  $10,000 
(142) 


"THREE    OR    FOUR   SHOTS   RANG  OUT.    OUR   TRAIN   WAS  OFF 
THE  TRACK."— Page  281. 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  145 

to  the  New  York  police.  When  the  balances  were  finally 
struck  nearly  $30,000  had  disappeared  from  our  cash  capi- 
tal, but  on  the  whole  it  was  a  good  plan.  It  drew  us  all 
closer  together,  consequently  increased  our  faith  in  each 
other  and  at  the  same  time  prevented  all  chances  of  future  dis- 
pute. This  matter  settled,  we  determined  to  have  a  little 
recreation  by  taking  a  tour  in  Italy.  After  studying  guide 
books  and  routes  we  resolved  to  take  a  steamer  from  South- 
ampton to  Naples,  spend  a  few  days  there  in  seeing  the  town 
and  visiting  Pompeii,  etc.,  then  north  to  Rome. 

We  had  made  considerable  preparation  for  our  tour,  when 
a  circumstance  arose  that  not  only  changed  our  plans,  but  in 
the  sequel  changed  our  lives  as  well. 

We  had  been  paying  another  visit  to  Hamgton  Court,  and 
in  place  of  dining  at  the  Star  and  Garter  we  returned  by  boat 
on  the  Thames  and  dined  at  Cannon  Street  Hotel.  Before 
going  to  the  hotel  we  took  a  stroll  down  Lombard  street, 
and,  arriving  at  the  intersection  of  streets  opposite  the  Bank 
of  England,  we  came  to  a  halt.  While  watching  the  human 
whirlpool  in  that  centre  of  throbbing  life,  I  turned  to  my 
friends,  and,  pointing  to  the  Bank  of  England,  said:  "Boys, 
you  may  depend  upon  it,  there  is  the  softest  spot  in  the  world, 
and  we  could  hit  the  bank  for  a  million  as  easy  as  rolling  off 
a  log."  No  response  was  made  at  the  time,  and  the  casual 
remark  was  apparently  forgotten.     Well  for  us  if  it  had  been. 

The  next  day  we  went  for  a  drive  to  Windsor,  and  were  to 
dine  at  a  famous  old  roadside  inn.  On  arriving  we,  of 
course,  visited  the  castle,  and,  while  viewing  the  decorations 
in  the  stately  throne  room,  Mac  stopped  us  with  the  remark 
that  something  I  had  said  the  day  before  had  been  sticking 
in  his  mind-  He  went  on  to  say  that  we  wanted  a  hundred 
thousand  apiece  in  order  to  return  home  in  good  shape;  that 
the  Bank  of  England  had  plenty  to  spare,  and  it  was  well  for 
the  lightning  to  strike  where  the  balances  were  heavy.  The 
bank  would  never  miss  the  money,  and  he  firmly  believed 
9 


146  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

the  whole  directorate  of  the  fossil  institution  was  permeated 
with  the  dry  rot  of  centuries.  The  managers  were  convinced 
that  their  banking  system  was  impregnable,  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence, it  would  fall  an  easy  victim,  provided,  as  we  sus- 
pected, the  bank  was  really  managed  by  hereditary  officials. 

Here  was  a  picture,  indeed.  Three  American  adventurers, 
two  of  them  barely  past  their  majority,  standing  in  the  throne 
room  of  Windsor  Castle,  and  plotting  to  strike  a  blow  at  the 
money  bags  of  the  Bank  of  England ! 

The  idea  grew  on  us  rapidly.  After  dinner  we  sat  in  the 
twilight  of  that  old  inn  and  discussed  the  Old  Lady  ot 
Threadneedle  Street  from  a  point  of  view  from  which  she  haa 
probably  never  been  discussed  before.  I  can  imagine  with 
what  scorn  the  idiotically  puffed  and  bepufifed  magnates  of 
the  bank  would  have  regarded  us  had  they  known  of  our 
discussion. 

They  afterwards  boasted  to  me,  as  they  had  boasted  for  a 
century,  that  their  system  was  perfect,  and  as  a  proof  that  it 
was  so  they  widely  proclaimed  they  had  not  changed  it  in  a 
hundred  years.  They  had  proclaimed  so  loudly  and  so  long 
its  absolute  invulnerability  that  they  not  only  believed  it 
themselves,  but  all  the  world  had  come  to  believe  it  as  well. 
"Safe  as  the  bank"  was  a  proverb  everywhere  underlying  the 
English  tongue. 

In  our  discussion  we  speedily  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
any  system  of  finance  unchanged  in  detail  for  a  century,  be- 
lief in  the  perfection  of  which  was  an  article  of  faith  not  alone 
with  the  officials  charged  with  its  management,  but  with 
the  people  of  England  at  large,  must,  in  the  very  nature  of 
the  case,  lie  wide  open  to  the  attack  of  any  man  bold  enough 
to  doubt  its  impregnability  and  resolute  to  attack. 

What  a  figment  of  the  imagination  this  boasted  impregna- 
bility of  the  Bank  of  England  was  the  sequel  will  show. 
And  as  for  those  masters  of  finance,  those  earthly  Joves  of 
the  financial  world  who  sat  serene  above  the  clouds,  "the 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  147 

Governor  and  Company  of  the  Bank  of  England,"  they  soon 
had  the  whole  money  world  shaking  with  laughter  when  they 
stood  revealed  the  Simple  Simons  they  proved  to  be. 

We  wanted  a  hundred  thousand  apiece  now,  and  had  re- 
solved to  get  it  from  the  Bank  of  England.  Such  was  our 
confidence  that  we  never  thought  failure  possible.  Truly,  if 
there  ever  was  a  plan  laid  in  ignorant  enthusiasm  this  was 
one.  Here  we  were,  absolutely  without  any  knowledge  of 
the  inner  workings  of  the  institution,  strangers  in  London 
being  under  assumed  names,  without  business  of  any  kind, 
and  not  only  unable  to  give  any  references,  but  unable  to 
stand  any  investigation. 

Exactly  how  we  were  to  manipulate  the  bank  we  did  not 
know.  We  were  inclined,  now  we  had  some  fifty  thousand 
dollars  capital,  to  avoid  so  serious  a  thing  as  forgery,  but  had 
an  idea  for  one  of  us  to  obtain  in  some  way  an  introducti.^n 
to  the  bank  and  to  use  all  the  money  of  the  party  to  estab- 
lish a  credit.  In  the  mean  time  all  were  to  get  in  the  swim  in 
or  around  the  exchange,  and  use  the  one  who  had  the  account 
in  the  bank  for  reference  for  the  others.  If  some  good 
chance  oflFered  to  go  into  a  straightforward  business  we  could 
drop  forever  all  thoughts  of  breaking  the  law  again.  This 
was  the  theory;  in  practice,  we  were  almost  certain  to  try  on 
the  game  we  had  of  late  played  so  successfully. 

In  conference  it  was  determined  an  account  should  be 
opened  with  the  bank,  anyway;  after  that  was  done  we  could 
decide  what  use  to  put  it  to. 

As  I  had  not  yet  shown  up  in  the  previous  transactions,  I 
volunteered  to  go  to  the  front  in  this;  so,  telling  my  two 
friends  to  go  to  the  Continent — Italy,  if  they  liked — I  would 
remain  in  London  and  manage  to  get  the  account  started. 
They  took  me  at  my  word,  and  a  day  or  two  after  sailed  from 
Liverpool  to  Lisbon,  and  passed  through  Portugal  to  Spain, 
I'isiting  the  chief  cities  of  that  country. 

I  was  left  alone  in  London  and  began  prospecting  at  once, 


148  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE3 

setting  all  my  wits  at  work  to  see  how  I  could  manage  to  get 
an  introduction  to  the  bank.  I  had  only  $20,000  to  start 
the  thing  with,  as  we  did  not  think  it  policy  to  risk  our  entire 
capital  in  one  place.  My  first  idea  was  to  find  some  solicitor 
of  standing  who  kept  his  account  at  the  Bank  of  England, 
to  give  him  a  retaining  fee  of  £100  to  act  as  my  legal  adviser, 
telling  him  some  fairy  tales  about  establishing  a  branch  firm 
in  London,  and  engage  him,  as  soon  as  we  started,  to  devote 
all  his  time  to  our  business  at  a  fat  salary.  But  there  were 
many  objections  to  having  a  lawyer  to  introduce  me,  they 
being  wide  awake  and  liable  to  scrutinize  too  closely.  If  one 
should  depart  so  far  from  his  policy  of  caution  as  to  intro- 
duce a  new  client  he  might  after  the  introduction  easily  noti- 
fy the  bank  that  I  was  a  stranger  to  him  and  perhaps  advise 
them  to  investigate,  and  investigation  was  the  one  thing  I 
must  avoid.  Of  course,  one  is  supposed  to  give  reference, 
even  if  introduced.  Although  I  had  no  acquaintance  with 
this  bank's  methods,  yet  I  was  confident  that  all  those  at  the 
top  must  be  a  stupid  lot  of  red-tape  sticklers,  and  I  resolved 
to  do  my  business  with  them  alone.  I  was  pretty  sure  that 
the  routine  of  an  introduction  once  well  over,  so  as  to  give 
me  access  to  the  officials,  they  could  be  easily  satisfied  and 
made  to  help  on  the  fraud,  in  place  of  being  obstacles.  The 
result  proved  my  surmise  correct,  for  such  a  lot  of  self-suffi- 
cient barnacles  no  institution  in  the  world  was  ever  burdened 
with. 

The  dry  rot  of  officialism  permeated  the  bank  through 
and  through;  even  the  bank  solicitors,  the  Messrs.  Fresh- 
fields,  were  merely  "highly  respectable,"  and  sometimes  when 
that  term  is  applied  in  England  it  indicates  mediocrity.  The 
Freshfields  managed  to  spend  four  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  of  the  bank's  money  in  our  prosecution.  That 
fact  alone  would  have  ruined  the  reputation  of  any  law  firm 
in  America,  but  the  ring  of  toadies  who  control  that  close 
corporation  called  the  Benchers  of  the  Inn  was  loud  in  its 


VIA   THE   PRIMROSE  WAY.  149 

praise  of  this  firm  for  the  extreme  ability  shown  in  working 
up  the  case  for  the  bank. 

I  finally  made  up  my  mind  to  find  some  old  established 
shopkeeper  who  kept  an  account  at  the  bank,  and  secure  an 
introduction  through  him. 

I  determined  to  carry  out  the  plan  at  once.  The  thing  was 
first  of  all  to  find  my  man;  so  at  2  o'clock  that  afternoon  I 
stationed  myself  near  the  bank  to  watch  depositors  coming 
out  and  then  follow  them.  Four  out  of  five  depositors  when 
they  take  money  to  the  bank  come  out  examining  their  pass- 
books. That  afternoon  I  followed  several;  of  these  I  selected 
three ;  one  was  an  optician  and  electrician,  an  old-established 
firm,  doing  a  large  business.  Another  was  an  Elast  India 
importing  house.     The  third  was  Green  &  Son,  tailors. 

The  next  day  I  went  to  the  optician  and  purchased  an  ex- 
pensive opera  glass,  and  had  him  engrave  on  it  "To  Lady 
Mary,  from  Her  Friend,"  and  paid  him  for  it  with  a  iioo 
note;  then  I  went  to  the  East  India  firm  and  bought  a  costly 
white  silk  shawl  and  a  lap  robe  fit  for  a  prince,  and  looked 
at  a  camel's  hair  shawl  at  one  hundred  guineas. 

I  had  brought  from  America  with  me  a  Western  hat,  and 
as  I  had  resolved  to  play  the  Silver  King,  I  wore  it  when  go- 
ing around  among  the  tradesmen.  The  English  had,  and  still 
have,  absurd  ideas  concerning  that  desiralila  article,  "The 
American  Silver  King."  The  stage  article  they  take  for  the 
genuine,  and  devoutly  believe  that  the  pavements  are  thick 
with  them  in  America,  all  marching  around  with  rolls  of 
thousand-dollar  bills  in  their  pockets,  which  they  throw  out  to 
bootblacks  and  bartenders. 

Therefore,  I  resolved  to  play  this  role.  After  my  purchase 
of  the  shawl  and  robe,  I  drove  in  my  brougham  up  to  Green 
&  Son,  and  entered,  smoking  a  cigar,  and  with  my  big  hat 
pulled  well  down  over  my  eyes.  Soon  as  I  saw  the  elder 
Green  I  felt  I  had  my  man.  Certainly  I  had  hit  well,  for 
the  firm  (fathers  and  sons)  had  been  depositors  in   the  Bank 


150  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

of  England  for  near  a  century,  and  had  considerable  wealth; 
but,  English  fashion,  stuck  steadily  to  business.  This  is  a 
firm  of  ultra-fashionable  tailors,  that,  like  the  historic  Poole 
next  door,  charge  for  their  reputation  more  than  for  the  fit 
of  their  garments. 

One  of  the  firm  and  an  attendant  flew  to  wait  upon  me, 
but,  paying  no  attention  to  them,  I  started  on  a  slow  march 
around  the  establishment,  examining  the  array  of  cloths,  they 
following  at  my  heels.  I  went  down  one  side  and  returned 
on  the  other  to  the  door.  Arriving  there  I  halted  and,  point- 
ing first  at  one  roll  of  cloth  and  then  another,  said:  "One 
suit  from  this,  three  suits  from  that,  two  from  that,  a 
topcoat  from  that,  another  from  that,  another  suit 
from  that,  one  from  that.  Now,  show  me  some 
dressing  gowns."  The  first  shown  was  twenty  guineas. 
I  instantly  said  that  would  do.  One  may  be  cer- 
tain the  tailor  and  his  assistant  flew  around,  one  to  measure 
and  the  other  to  write  the  measurements  of  this  American 
sheep  that  Providence  had  led  astray  into  their  shop.  When 
asked  my  name  and  address,  I  gave  F.  A.  Warren,  Golden 
Cross  Hotel,  and  then,  for  fear  I  might  forget  my  name, 
I  made  a  memorandum  of  it  and  placed  it  in  my  vest  pocket. 
They  bowed  me  out,  evidently  greatly  impressed  with  my 
taciturnity,  and  especially  my  big  hat,  confident  also  that  they 
had  hooked  a  fortune  in  a  genuine  American  silver  king.  T 
entered  the  brougham  and  drove  directly  to  the  Golden  Cross 
Hotel,  Charing  Cross,  and  there  registering  "F.  A.  Warren  " 
and  securing  a  room  I  left  for  my  hotel.  This  room  at  the 
Golden  Cross  I  kept  for  a  whole  year,  but  never  slept  there. 
It  was  the  only  address  the  Bank  of  England  ever  had  of 
their  distinguished  customer,  Mr.  Frederic  Albert  Warren. 

I  did  not  trouble  any  more  about  the  other  two  store  peo- 
ple, but  looked  about  the  town,  amusing  myself.  In  due 
time  I  called  and  tried  the  garments  on,  and,  when  ready  to 
deliver,  I  left  the  cash  with  the  hotel  people  with  orders  to 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  V^At.  151 

pay  the  bill,  which  was  done.  There  the  matter  rested  for 
ten  days,  when  I  drove  up  again,  and,  remaining  in  my  car- 
riage, the  head  of  the  firm  came  out  to  me  and  I  remarked : 
"I  must  have  more  garments;  duplicate  that  order,"  and 
drove  ofT. 

A  week  after  I  called  to  have  them  tried  on,  and  then  said 
that  as  I  was  going  to  Ireland  for  a  few  days'  shooting  with 
Lord  Clancarty,  I  would  send  down  a  portmanteau  for  the 
garments  and  call  for  it  on  my  way  from  the  hotel  to  the  sta- 
tion.    So  I  bought  the  most  expensive  trunk  I  could  find 
and  sent  it  to  the  tailor.    When  the  day  came  for  me  to  call 
I  provided  myself  with  six  £500  bank  notes,  five  iioo  and 
about  fifty  £5  notes  to  go  on  the  bottom  of  the  roll.    Before 
leaving  my  hotel  I  had  a  large  trunk  put  on  the  cab,  and  then 
taking  inside  of  it  all  the  dressing  bags,  rugs,  silk  umbrellas 
and  canes  in  the  whole  party,  I  drove  to  the  tailor's,  paid  my 
bill  with  a  £500  note  and  had  the  portmanteau  put  on  the 
cab.       I  turned  to  go,  but,  halting  at  the  door,  I  remarked 
quite  in  a  casual  manner:  "By  the  way,  Mr.  Green,  I  have 
more  money  than  I  care  to  carry  loose  in  my  vest  pocket  to 
Ireland;  I  think  I  will  leave  it  with  you."     He  replied,  "Cer- 
tainly, sir,"  and  as  I  was  pulling  the  roll  out  of  my  vest 
pocket  he  said:  "How  much  is  it,  sir?"     "Only  £4,000;  it  may 
be  £5,000;"  to  which  he  replied:  "Oh,  sir,  I  would  be  afraid 
to  take  charge  of  so  much ;  let  me  introduce  you  to  my  bank." 
He  ran  for  his  hat,  accompanied  me  to  the  Bank  of  England, 
and,  calling  one  of  the  sub-managers,  introduced  me  as  an 
American  gentleman,  Mr.  F.  A.  Warren,  who  desired  to 
open  an  account.     A  check  and  a  pass  book  were  brought 
and  the  signature  book  laid  before  me  for  my  autograph, 
and  I  was  requested  to  sign  my  name  in  full,  so  I  christened 
myself  Frederic  Albert.     I  drove  to  the  North  Eastern  sta- 
tion and  telgraphed  the  boys  at  Barcelona  that  the  thing  was 
done  and  they  could,  if  they  liked,  curtail  their  excursion 
and  return  to  England  at  once. 


152  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

So  the  first  step  had  been  taken  and  successfully.  We 
talked  of  now  giving  up  all  further  idea  of  breaking  the  law, 
and  starting  in  London  as  brokers  and  promoters  of  stock 
companies.  The  plan  was  for  me  to  take  the  money  of  the 
firm,  i  10,000,  place  it  all  in  the  Bank  of  England,  and  begin 
to  buy  and  sell  stock  and  keep  my  money  movmg  in  and  out 
of  the  bank.  Then  George  and  Mac  were  to  start  an  office 
and  launch  out  as  promoters  and  refer  to  Mr.  Warren  of  the 
Bank  of  England.  This  would  place  them  on  a  footing  at 
once,  and  I  would  gradually  drop  out  of  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land after  introducing  George  and  Mac  in  their  right 
names.  This  was  a  grand  plan,  and  had  we  only  carried  it 
out  fortune  would  have  been  ours,  and  honor  as  well,  but  we 
were  too  impatient  of  any  delay  in  securing  wealth  and  over- 
confident of  our  success  and  cleverness.  Above  all,  we  were 
anxious  to  get  home  again.  But  I  have  got  somewhat  ahead 
of  my  story. 

Soon  after  I  had  a  telegram  from  George  and  Mac  saying" 
that  they  would  arrive  in  time  for  a  late  dinner,  and  for  me 
to  wait  and  dine  with  them.  At  the  time  I  was  living  at 
the  Grosvenor  Hotel,  Victoria  Station.  We  had  a  pleasant 
meeting  and  a  good  dinner  to  celebrate  it.  I  exhibited  my 
check  book,  and  they  were  eager  to  know  all  details  of  my 
interviews,  not  only  at  the  bank,  but  with  the  tailor,  and  over 
the  wine  I  related  with  great  spirit  the  details  of  the  little  com- 
edy. I  have  to  this  very  day  a  vivid  recollection  of  the 
shouts  of  laughter  that  arose  from  my  companions  during  the 
recital.  We  laughed  then,  but  we  did  not  laugh  for  the  next 
twenty  years,  neither  did  we  partake  of  any  sumptuous  ban- 
quets. In  the  world  of  crime  success  is  failure,  and  perhaps 
never  had  the  absolute  accuracy  of  that  statement  been  so  fully 
confirmed  as  in  our  own  lives. 

That  merriment  of  ours  ended  in  anguish  too  deep  for 
words.  For  twenty  years  I  never  looked  upon  a  star,  nor 
saw  the  face  of  a  woman  or  of  a  child;  that  is  to  say,  from  my 


YiA.  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY. 


153 


early  years  when  the  heart  beats  fast  and  the  blood  runs 
warmly  in  the  veins.  That  fearful  gap  of  time  was  filled  to 
the  brim  with  the  peltings  of  a  pitiless  storm,  hungry,  driven, 
toiling  like  a  galley  slave  under  the  Summer's  burning  sun, 
or  thinly  clad  exposed  to  every  blizzard  and  all  the  whirling 
storms  of  Winter,  until  my  early  manhood  had  vanished  and 
the  best  years  of  my  prime  were  all  melted  away,  and  at  last  I 
came  forth  from  my  dungeon,  but  with  the  mark  of  suffering 
and  desolation  burned  deep  upon  me,  to  face  a  world  of 
which  I  could  not  but  be  ignorant 


THE    "sugar-loaf"    IN   THE   BAY   OF   RIO. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

PIRATICAL.  CRUISE  IN  TROPICAL,  SEAS. 

The  way  to  the  bank  vaults  with  their  treasures  had  been 
laid  open,  but  there  remained  many  matters  of  detail  to  be 
carried  out  before  we  could  enter  them.  There  promised  to 
be  a  delay  of  several  months,  but  we  were  impatient  over  the 
prospect  of  delay  of  even  six  months  in  securing  the  fortunes 
we  wanted,  and  which  we  had  come  to  consider  essential  to 
our  happiness. 

Our  plan  to  ease  the  bank  of  a  million  or  two  of  her  forty 
million  sterling  was,  roughly  stated,  to  borrow  from  day  to 
day  large  sums  upon  forged  securities,  the  bad  feature  of  the 
plan,  from  our  point  of  view,  being  the  fact  that  the  bank, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  would  retain  these  documents,  which 
could  be  produced  at  any  future  time  to  found  a  criminal 
charge  against  us,  provided  justice  ever  had  the  opportunity 
to  weigh  us  in  her  balances. 

Protected  as  we  were  by  the  police  in  New  York,  v.-e  felt 
that  the  chance  of  our  identity  ever  becoming  known  was 
remote.  Still,  there  was  an  element  of  chance  we  wanted  to 
eliminate  entirely.  In  our  recent  raid  on  the  bankers  of 
France  and  Germany  we  never  exhausted  our  letter  of 
credit,  but  had  the  amount  of  cash  we  drew  indorsed  upon 
it,  and  brought  the  actual  forged  document  away  and  instant- 
ly destroyed  it.  Had  we  been  arrested  in  Europe,  no  doubt, 
under  the  laws  prevailing  there,  they  would  have  made  us 
suffer  upon  the  verbal  statement  of  the  banker;  but  in  Amer- 
(154) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  155 

ica  to  convict  one  of  forgery  the  document  itself  must  be 
produced  in  court. 

I  paid  several  visits  to  the  bank,  depositing  and  drawing 
out  various  sums  of  money.  I  had  talks  with  the  sub-mana- 
ger, and,  on  various  pretexts  to  get  information,  I  interviewed 
bankers  and  money  men  in  the  city.  Finally,  after  many  con- 
ferences, we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  boasted  impreg- 
nability of  the  bank  was  imaginary,  and  that  the  vanity  and 
self-sufficiency  of  the  officials  would  some  day  prove  a  snare 
to  the  institution  they  ruled  over. 

The  next  conclusion  we  arrived  at  was  that,  easy  as  it 
might  be  to  defraud  the  bank,  yet  there  was  an  infinity  of  de- 
tail which  would  require  six  months  of  preparations  to  carry 
out.  Then,  again,  the  word  forgery  began  to  look  black  in 
our  vocabulary.  We  knew  John  Bull  was  an  obstinate  fel- 
low when  he  once  got  his  back  up,  and  we  began  to  think 
it  wise  to  keep  beyond  his  dull  weather  eye. 

Finally,  as  the  result  of  many  debates,  we  resolved  tc  aban- 
don the  Bank  of  England  matter  temporarily,  possibly  for- 
ever, because  it  was  too  dangerous,  and  the  delay  would  be 
too  great.  Our  new  plan  was  to  go  to  South  America  on  a 
buccaneering  expedition.  There  being  no  cable  in  1872,  and 
it  took,  as  we  ascertained,  forty  days  to  send  a  letter  from 
Rio  de  Janeiro  to  Europe  and  get  a  reply ;  so  that,  if  we  exe- 
cuted an  operation  boldly  and  well,  we  might  hope  for  any- 
thing. We  resolved  to  go  to  South  America,  but  to  leave 
my  account  stand  in  the  bank,  and  if  our  success  was  as  great 
as  expected,  we  would  let  the  Bank  of  England  keep  the 
million  or  two  we  wanted,  and  continue  her  century-long 
slumber  until  the  time  came  when  some  adventurous  but 
unscrupulous  mind  should  accept  the  temptation  she  held 
out  to  seize  some  of  her  bags  of  sovereigns. 

Our  plan  was,  in  the  main,  similar  to  the  one  we  had  lately 
used  with  so  much  success  in  Germany  and  France.  Only 
in  this  rase  we  proposed  to  use  the  credit  of  the  London  and 


156  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Westminster  Bank,  and,  therefore,  obtained  the  documents 
required  to  carry  through  such  an  operation  successfully. 

The  steamer  Lusitania  of  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation 
Company  was  advertised  to  sail  on  the  12th,  and  we  deter- 
mined to  go  by  her.  Our  plan  was  to  go  on  the  same 
steamer,  to  be  ever  within  supporting  distance  of  each  other, 
and  yet  pretend  to  be  strangers,  or  if  associating  together, 
to  act  so  as  to  make  all  observers  think  our  acquaintance 
merely  casual. 

Mac  had  his  tickets  in  the  name  of  Gregory  Morrison. 
He  carried  letters  of  introduction  to  Maua  &  Co.,  who  had 
branches  in  all  the  coast  cities  down  the  coast,  including 
Montevideo  and  Buenos  Ayres  on  the  east  coast,  and  Lima, 
Valparaiso  and  Callao  on  the  west. 

The  steamers  of  the  Pacific  Steam  Navigation  Company, 
leaving  Liverpool,  touch  at  Bordeaux,  Santander  and  Lisbon, 
then  are  ofT  6,000  miles  away  to  Rio,  never  slowing  the  en- 
gines for  a  moment  during  the  voyage.  Two  days  at  Rio  to 
discharge  cargo  and  take  in  coal,  then  ofif  again  to  Monte- 
video, discharge  cargo,  and  coal  again,  then  away  round  the 
Horn,  and  thousands  of  miles  up  the  west  coast,  touching 
everywhere  to  land  mails  and  passengers;  finally  after  14,000 
miles  of  sea  travel  they  reach  Callao,  then  take  the  home 
track  for  Liverpool. 

Modern  buccaneers,  indeed,  were  we,  engaged  in  a  nine- 
teenth century  piratical  descent  upon  the  shores  of  South 
America.  Instead  of  the  burly,  much-beweaponed  pirate  of 
other  years,  we  were  mild-mannered,  soft-spoken,  courteous 
youngsters,  yet  our  steel  pen  and  bottle  of  ink  were  more 
deadly  instruments  or  at  least  of  surer  fire  and  of  better  aim, 
than  the  long  toms  and  horse  pistols  of  the  piratical  braves 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  Our  hopes  of  gain  were  high, 
and  we  counted  on  an  ample  return  for  the  trouble  of  our 
adventure.  I  say  trouble,  for  danger  we  feared  none,  so  con- 
fident were  we  of  our  ability  to  carry  off  everything  with  a 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  157 

high  hand,  and  so  complete  was  our  faith  in  each  other  that 
we  had  no  anxiety  as  to  the  result,  but  simply  regarded  our 
trip  as  a  pleasant  voyage  into  tropic  seas — a  happy  change 
from  the  March  wind  and  sombre  skies  of  England  to  the 
bright  skies  and  balmy  air  of  the  tropical  world  in  the  Win- 
ter months. 

I  had  a  balance  in  the  bank  of  £2,335,  and  we,  as  a  matter 
of  policy,  wanted  to  have  our  capital  ready  at  hand.  The 
bank  has  a  rule  that  a  depositor  must  never  have  less  than 
£300  to  his  credit.  My  friends  were  somewhat  skeptical  as 
to  whether  the  bank  did  not  regard  their  new  customer,  F. 
A.  Warren,  with  some  suspicion  and  as  a  depositor  to  be 
watched.  My  personal  relations  with  the  bank  people  con- 
vinced me  everything  was  all  right,  but  to  convince  my 
friends  I  determined  to  give  them  a  proof  that  the  bank 
would  break  their  rule  on  my  account. 

The  Monday  before  we  sailed  for  Brazil  I  called  at  the 
bank  and  told  the  sub-manager  that  I  was  going  to  St.  Pe- 
tersburg and  on  to  Southern  Russia  for  a  time  to  inspect 
some  work  I  was  doing  there,  and  I  purposed  to  withdraw 
my  account.  He  begged  me  not  to  do  so,  said  many  flat- 
tering things  to  me,  and  urged  that  it  would  be  convenient 
to  have  an  open  account  in  London. 

"Well,"  I  said,  looking  at  my  passbook,  "I  see  I  have 
£2,335  to  my  credit.  I  will  leave  the  odd  £35  with  you." 
He  instantly  acquiesced.  Had  he  said :  "No,  3-ou  must  leave 
at  least  £300,  as  our  rules  require,"  I  should  have  said  "All 
right,"  and  made  it  five  hundred.  I  drew  out  the  £2,300 
at  once,  intending  to  deposit  £300  before  leaving  London, 
but  in  the  haste  of  our  preparations  I  neglected  it,  and  my 
balance  at  the  bank  stood  £35  for  all  the  weeks  I  was  on  our 
piratical  cruise  to  the  Spanish  Main. 

Storing  most  of  our  baggage  in  London,  we  took  the  train 
to  Liverpool,  and,  purchasing  tickets  for  Rio,  we  went  on 
board  the  good  ship  Lusitania,  but  not  the  "good"  ship,  for 


158  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

her  first  trip,  this  being  her  second,  had  won  for  her  the 
name  of  being  unlucky,  and  Liverpool  insurance  men,  no  less 
than  Liverpool  sailors,  do  not  bank  on  an  unlulcky  ship — 
their  faith  of  ill  luck  following  an  unlucky  ship  has  been 
justified  in  thousands  of  instances,  as  it  was  in  the  case  of 
the  Lusitania.  But  I  am  not  going  to  relate  the  after  his- 
tory of  the  ship. 

From  the  hour  of  our  arrival  in  Liverpool  we  were  out- 
outwardly  strangers,  and  during  the  voyage  no  one  ever  sus- 
pected that  we  were  anything  else.  We  soon  discovered  we 
had  a  pleasant  company  of  fellow  voyagers,  and  as  we 
steamed  out  of  the  Merse}^  and  headed  southward  we  settled 
down  to  have  a  good  time.  Boreas  was  friendly,  and  away  we 
sped  across  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  rapidly  neared  the  mouth  of 
the  Garonne,  on  an  estuary  of  which  is  situated  the  old  city  of 
Bordeaux.  Arriving  there,  the  ship  lay  at  anchor  for  some 
hours,  taking  in  and  discharging  freight,  and  receiving  emi- 
grants for  various  parts  of  South  America.  When  the 
steamer  was  about  to  leave,  it  was  a  strange  and  rather  comi- 
cal sight  to  witness  the  farewells  and  leave-takings  from  the 
crowds  of  friends  who  had  come  to  see  them  ofif.  The  cus- 
tomary performance  appeared  to  me  so  peculiar  that  I  will  de- 
scribe it  as  well  as  I  can  after  so  many  years:  Two  men  stand- 
ing face  to  face,  one  clasps  the  other  round  the  body,  the  other 
passive,  then  leaning  back  lifts  the  party  clear  off  the  ground 
once,  twice  or  thrice,  probably  according  to  the  degree  of  re- 
lationship or  amount  of  affection;  then  the  operation  is  re- 
versed, the  embraced  becoming  the  embracer.  In  some  cases 
the  ceremonial  is  repeated  the  second  or  third  time,  neither 
kissing  nor  crying  being  the  fashion  there. 

The  next  morning  we  were  off  the  coast  of  Spain,  watching 
the  silvery  gleam  from  the  ice-clad  peaks  of  the  Pyrenees — 
at  least  those  of  us  who  were  not  engaged  in  the  more  dis- 
agreeable employment  of  discharging  their  debt  to  Father 
Neptune.     However,  by  the  time  the  ship  arrived  at  th^ 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  159 

small  port  of  Santander  the  passengers  were  mostly  recover- 
ing from  the  mal  de  mer  occasioned  by  the  rough  water  in  the 
Bay  of  Biscay.  While  leaving  this  tiny  landlocked  harbor, 
one  of  the  propeller  blades  touched  the  rocky  bottom,  and 
broke  short  off,  but  our  ship  continued  her  voyage  with  undi- 
minished speed,  and  within  three  days  was  steaming  up  the 
Tagus  to  Lisbon.  Here  the  passengers  who  wished  to  avail 
themselves  of  the  opportunity  had  a  few  hours  on  shore ;  then 
we  were  oflf  for  the  long  diagonal  run  across  the  Atlantic. 

"The  Lady  of  the  Lusitania,"  as  she  was  called,  because 
there  was  no  other  lady  among  the  saloon  passengers,  was 
the  wife  of  a  captain  in  the  British  army,  who  was  going  out 
for  a  few  months'  hunting  on  the  pampas  of  Buenos  Ayres, 
and,  of  course,  accompanied  by  many  dogs,  with  an  assort- 
ment of  guns.  There  was  also  a  chaplain  in  the  British  navy 
who  was  going  out  to  join  his  ship  at  Valparaiso.  A  strange 
character  was  he ;  a  big,  burly  man,  about  28  years  of  age,  the 
most  inveterate  champagne  drinker  on  board,  and  that  is  say- 
ing a  good  deal.  Whenever  he  met  any  of  the  "jolly"  ones 
of  the  saloon  passengers  it  was  "Come,  old  fellow,  will  you 
toss  me  for  a  bottle  of  fizz?"  as  he  called  his  favorite  wine, 
and  he  had  no  lack  of  accepters.  The  majority  in  the  saloon 
consisted  of  a  party  of  fifteen  young  Englishmen,  civil  en- 
gineers, who  were  going  under  the  leadership  of  a  Swedish 
colonel  to  survey,  for  the  Brazilian  Government,  a  railway 
line  across  the  southern  part  of  Brazil,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific.  In  all  there  were  twenty-five  young  men,  full  of 
frolic  and  fun,  who  made  tilings  rather  lively  about  the  ship. 
They  went  in  for  everything  from  which  any  fun  could  be  ex- 
tracted. At  the  equinoctial  line  they  roped  in  the 
"greenhocns"  to  look  through  the  field  glasses  at  the  line, 
and  having  fastened  a  hair  across  the  field  of  view,  of  course, 
we  could  all  see  it  plainly.  Father  Neptune  came  on  board 
and  those  of  the  crew  who  had  never  crossed  the  Equator 
were  hunted  out  of  their  hiding  places,  dragged  on  deck, 


160  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

lathered  with  a  whitewash  brush  dipped  in  old  grease,  shaved 
with  a  lath-razor,  and  then  tumbled  unceremoniously  back- 
ward into  a  cask  of  water. 

After  a  prosperous  voyage  of  three  weeks  we  arrived  within 
sight  of  the  famous  "Sugar  Loaf,"  and  were  duly  disembarked 
at  the  Custom  House,  our  baggage  passed,  and  w^ere  off  to 
our  hotels,  each  going  to  a  different  one,  and  each  registering 
the  name  our  letters  of  credit  and  introduction  bore.  While 
in  Rio  we  went  by  day  in  the  parks  or  cafes,  and  spent  our 
evenings  together,  having  a  most  enjoyable  time. 

This  was  our  first  experience  of  the  tropics,  and  life  under 
the  Equator  proved  as  novel  and  as  fascinating  as  it  ever 
does  to  the  inhabitant  of  a  cold  climate.  The  show  of  tropi- 
cal fruits  in  the  markets  was  magnificent,  and,  although 
strangers  are  warned  not  to  partake  of  it,  yet  our  health  was 
so  good  and  our  digestion  so  perfect  that  we  disregarded  all 
warnings  and  gratified  our  palates  without  stint,  with  no  bad 
results  following. 

However,  we  felt  after  all  that  we  were  there  on  business; 
we  wanted  plunder,  in  fact,  and  not  pleasure,  in  Rio.  Our 
pleasure  lay  in  Europe  or  America,  there  in  the  good  time 
just  ahead,  when,  as  moneyed  men,  we  returned,  and,  sur- 
rounded by  those  nearest  and  dearest,  we  would  enjoy  life 
to  the  full. 

Mac  was  the  grand  swell  of  our  party,  and,  w^anting  to  ex- 
cel us  all  in  his  financial  successes,  was  eager  to  go  to  the 
front.  Accordingly,  we  fixed  ever\'thing  so  that  he  could 
everywhere  strike  the  first  and  the  heaviest  blow. 

Of  course,  on  our  twxnty-two  days'  voyage  we  had  ample 
time  for  discussion,  and  before  we  passed  the  Equator  had 
settled  on  our  plan.  First  of  all,  it  was  agreed  that  one  of  the 
party  should  keep  his  neck  out  of  the  noose,  to  stand  by  if 
either  of  the  others  came  to  grief.  Very  much  to  my  satisfac- 
tion, it  was  again  decided  that  I  was  the  man  to  stand  from 
under. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  163 

The  firm  of  Maua  in  Rio  was  the  most  considerable  in  all 
South  America,  and  Mac's  introductions  were  to  this  firm. 
The  plan  was  for  Mac  to  present  himself  to  Maua  &  Co.,  and 
to  draw  within  twenty-four  hours,  at  least  £10,000,  so  as  to 
make  sure  of  our  expenses,  and  a  day  or  two  before  steamer 
day  to  arrange  for  a  very  large  sum,  twenty  or  thirty  thou- 
sand pounds.  As  soon  as  that  was  obtained,  George  was  to 
go  to  the  Bank  of  London  and  Rio  de  Janeiro,  and  secure 
as  much  as  he  thought  it  safe  to  ask  for,  five  or  ten  thousand 
pounds.  This  would  be  paid  in  Brazilian  paper  money, 
which  I  was  to  exchange  for  sovereigns.  Then  I  was  to  buy 
a  ticket  for  myself  on  the  steamer  going  south,  take  the  gold 
oflf  and  stow  it  away  in  my  stateroom.  At  the  last  moment, 
in  the  bustle  and  confusion  of  sailing,  Mac  and  George  were 
to  slip  into  my  stateroom,  conceal  themselves  and  sail  with 
the  steamer,  and  when  once  out  of  the  harbor,  to  see  the 
purser,  explain  that  they  had  arranged  with  a  friend  to  pur- 
chase tickets;  but,  as  he  had  not  put  in  an  appearance,  they 
would  be  obliged  to  pay  a  second  time.  We  purposed  to  go 
down  the  east  coast  and  up  the  west  to  Lima.  Visiting  the 
cities  as  we  went  from  Lima,  we  would  go  to  Panama,  there 
catch  the  steamer  to  San  Francisco,  and  after  a  pleasant  so- 
journ in  California  go  overland  to  New  York  with  a  million. 

This  was  our  plan,  but,  as  all  the  world  knows,  there  is  a 
vast  difference  between  making  plans  and  carrying  them  into 
successful  execution. 
10 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

"SHOW  ME  TOUR  LETTERS  OF  CREDIT." 

Fate,  Providence,  call  it  what  you  will,  seldom  fails  to  up- 
set wrongdoing,  making  it  rocky  for  the  wrongdoer. 

By  an  irony  of  fortune  we  carried  with  us  that  which  was 
going  to  balk  all,  or  nearly  all,  our  fine  scheme. 

In  our  letters  of  credit  in  some  mysterious  way  the  name 
of  the  sub-marager  of  the  London  and  Westminster  Bank 
had  been  omitted,  although  this  was  absolutely  essential  to 
the  validity  of  the  letters.  There  was  also  another  error,  an 
error  of  such  an  extraordinary  nature — that  of  spelling  "en- 
dorse" with  a  "c" — that  it  is  enough  to  make  any  man  con- 
templating an  unlawful  act  despair  of  success,  since  we  could 
be  defeated  by  such  mysterious  and  unforeseen  accidents. 

A  few  hours  after  our  arrival  Mac  called  at  the  bankers'  and 
was  well  received  by  the  manager. 

He  told  the  manager  his  letters  of  credit  ran  from  ^5,000 
to  i20,ooo  each,  and  that  he  should  want  iio,ooo  the  next 
day.     Would  they  have  it  ready? 

The  next  day  he  went  to  the  bank,  George  and  myself  be- 
ing posted  outside.  In  ten  minutes  he  reappeared  with  a 
square  bundle  under  his  arm.  He  smiled  as  he  passed  us, 
and,  turning  a  comer,  entered  a  cafe,  where  he  joined  us.  His 
bundle  contained  iio,ooo  in  Brazilian  bank  notes.  He  as- 
sured us  that  everything  was  serene  at  the  bank,  that  he  could 
have  i  100,000  if  he  wanted  to  ask  for  it 
(164) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  165 

I  had  already  been  to  the  three  largest  money  brokers  and 
arranged  to  buy  gold.  So,  leaving  Mac  and  George,  I  got  a 
sole  leather  bag  we  had  for  the  purpose,  and,  hiring  a  stalwart 
black  porter,  went  to  the  brokers.  I  bought  sovereigns  for 
the  whole  i  10,000.  It  was  ten  bags  with  one  thousand 
pounds  in  each.  The  weight  was  i68  pounds.  The  black 
fellow  put  it  on  his  head,  and  followed  me  to  my  hotel,  and 
found  it  a  pretty  good  load,  too.  So  here  we  had  one  big 
fish  landed,  and  confidently  counted  on  several  more. 

I  related  above  how  we  had  in  some  incomprehensible  way 
omitted  putting  on  the  letter  of  credit  the  sub-manager's 
name.  How  could  v/e  have  committed  such  a  blunder?  My 
answer  is  that  this  is  only  another  example  of  the  unforeseen 
"something"  ever  happening  to  defeat  any  anticipated  bene- 
fit from  ill-gotten  gains. 

The  next  day  Mac  went  to  the  bankers  again,  and  was  re- 
quested by  the  manager  to  show  the  letter  of  credit  on  which 
was  indorsed  the  ten  thousand  pounds  he  had  drawn  against 
it.  Looking  at  the  letter,  the  manager  said:  "This  is  singular; 
there  is  only  the  name  of  Mr.  Bradshaw,  the  manager,  on  this 
letter;  J.  P.  Shipp,  the  sub-manager's  name,  should  be  on  the 
credit  as  well."  And  then  he  went  on  to  say  that  some  time 
since  they  had  been  notified  by  the  London  Bank  that  all 
letters  issued  by  them  would  bear  two  signatures. 

Mac  was  a  man  of  nerve,  but  it  required  all  he  had  not  to 
betray  his  uneasiness.  He  said  he  really  could  not  say  how 
the  omission  had  occurred ;  he  supposed  it  must  have  been  ac- 
cidental, but  he  would  examine  his  other  letters  as  soon  as  he 
went  back  to  the  hotel. 

The  look  of  chagrin  and  vexation  on  Mac's  face  when  he 
came  out  was  a  sight  to  see,  and  one  that  is  as  vivid  in  my 
memory  now  as  in  that  far-ofif  day  in  1872. 

He  went  direct  to  the  hotel,  and  there  George  and  I  soon 
joined  him.  We  sat  down  and  looked  at  each  other.  The 
g^ame  apparently    was  up,  and  we    were   a  sorely  disgusted 


166  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

party.  We  did  not  fall  out  with  or  reproach  each  other,  but 
felt  we  deserved  a  kicking.  We  did  not  ask  each  other  any 
questions,  but  I  know  our  faces  all  wore  a  sadly  puzzled  look 
as  we  repeated  mentally,  "How  could  we  have  made  such  an 
oversight?"  But  soon  another  blunder — the  misspelled 
word — was  to  crop  up,  that  made  this  one  of  the  omitted 
name  seem  as  a  fly  to  an  eagle. 

Mac  and  I  thought  the  game  up,  and  were  mentally  plan- 
ning for  flight.  But  George,  being  a  man  of  extraordinary 
courage  and  resource  as  well,  declared  we  could  and  would 
retrieve  the  blunder.  He  declared  a  bold  step  must  be  taken, 
that,  as  the  bankers  iiad  only  seen  the  one  credit^  the  name  of 
Shipp,  the  sub-manager,  must  be  instantly  put  on  the  others. 
We  had  the  genuine  signature  of  J.  P.  Shipp  on  a  draft,  and 
Mac  at  once  sat  down  to  write  it  on  all  the  letters.  It  was  a 
trying  ordeal  for  him,  Mac's  nerves  having  had  a  wrench. 
He  was  a  temperate  man,  but  under  the  circumstances  we 
advised  him  to  take  a  glass  of  brandy  to  steadv  his  nerves. 
Then  placing  the  genuine  signature  before  him  and  the  forged 
letters,  hs  began  to  put  in  the  name.  The  signatures  were 
not  well  written,  but  under  the  trying  circumstances  they 
were  wonderfully  well  done.  All  this  had  taken  place  within 
half  an  hour  after  he  had  left  the  bank- 
It  was  a  trying  ordeal,  but  Mac  was  quite  willing  to  do  as 
George  advised.  That  was  that  he  should  take  several  of  the 
letters  and  march  boldly  into  the  bank  and  say :  "Here  are  my 
letters;  they  are  all  right.  Both  signatures  are  on  all  my  let- 
ters but  the  one,  and  from  that  the  second  signature  has  been 
in  some  way  omitted."  George's  last  word  to  Mac  was: 
"Rely  upon  us  to  extricate  you  from  anything.  Keep  cool. 
Act  up  to  the  character  you  have  assumed.  They  can  never 
fathom  that  the  names  could  have  been  written  in  so  short  a 
time.  Boldly  offer  them  more  exchange  on  London,  and  if 
there  is  any  hesitation  say  you  will  transfer  your  business  to 
the  English  Bank  of  Rio  at  once." 


'SURELY    THE    CLERKS     IN     THE     BANK     KNOW     HOW     TO 
SPELL."— Page    172. 


VIA  THE   PRIMROSE   WAY.  167 

He  Started  on  his  decisive  errand,  followed  by  us,  in  a  mis- 
erable state  of  anxiety.  He  was  not  long  in  the  bank,  but  re- 
turned empty-handed.  Upon  meeting  at  the  designated 
place,  he  informed  us  the  manager  was  evidently  agree- 
ably surprised  when  shown  the  letters  with  both  signatures, 
and  transferred  the  indorsement  from  the  letter  that  had  but 
one  signature  to  one  with  two.  Once  more  we  had  matters 
all  right,  and  the  broken  place  patched  up  again,  but  it  be- 
hooved us  not  to  do  so  any  more.    But  we  did. 

During  our  stay  in  Rio  we  saw  much  to  interest  us.  The 
negro  was  very  much  in  evidence.  Slavery  was  still  the  law 
of  the  land;  all  the  toil  and  burden-bearing  falls  to  the  poor 
slave's  lot.  One  day  we  all  three  took  an  early  train  and 
alighted  at  a  small  hamlet  on  the  border  of  a  stream  about 
thirty  miles  from  Rio,  beyond  the  ranges  of  mountains  that 
hem  in  the  city.  We  managed  to  find  some  saddle  mules 
and  started  to  see  the  country.  We  rode  for  some  miles 
fhrough  a  land  covered  with  moundlike  hills,  no  sooner  com- 
ing to  the  bottom  of  one  than  we  were  ascending  another. 
These  hills  are  covered  with  coffee  bushes  filled  with  red 
fruit,  about  the  size  of  a  cherry,  each  containing  two  kernels. 
The  coffee  was  being  picked  into  large  fiat  baskets  by  slaves, 
which,  when  filled^  they  carried  away  on  their  heads  to  the 
drying  grounds. 

The  roads  were  bordered  with  orange  trees  loaded  with 
luscious  fruit,  to  which  we  helped  ourselves.  After  a  time 
we  turned  into  a  bridle  path  and  rode  some  miles  through  a 
dense  forest.  We  emerged  upon  the  outskirts  of  a  coflfee 
plantation,  where  the  slaves  were  just  on  their  way  to  dinner, 
and  another  half  mile  brought  us  to  the  planter's  residence. 
Thirty  or  forty  slaves  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  were  grouped 
upon  the  grass,  engaged  in  eating  a  black-looking  stew  out 
of  metal  dishes,  their  fingers  serving  for  knives,  forks  and 
spoons.  Seeing  three  horsemen  ride  out  of  the  forest,  they 
stared  in  stupid  wonder,  until  one  more  intelligent  than  the 


168  FROM  WALL,  STREET   TO  NEWGATE 

Others  went  in  search  of  the  overseer.  Presently  a  white  man 
appeared,  and,  in  response  to  Mac's  "Parlate  Italiano,"  came 
the  smiHng  answer,  *Si,  Signor,"  proving,  as  we  wagered  he 
would  be,  a  native  of  beggarly,  sunny  Italy. 

The  overseer  showed  us  over  the  place,  and  explained 
all  the  processes  of  preparing  coffee  for  the  market.  In  one 
corner  of  a  large,  unpainted  building  was  what  he  called  the 
infirmary,  and  a  comfortless  looking  place  it  was.  He  said 
there  was  no  doctor  employed,  and  that  he  dealt  out  medi- 
cine to  the  slaves  himself.  After  being  served  with  coffee  we 
thanked  him  for  our  entertainment  and  returned  to  Rio  by  an 
evening  train. 

The  mail  steamer  Ebro  was  advertised  to  leave  Rio  for 
Liverpool  on  Wednesday  of  the  week  following  the  exciting 
events  narrated  in  the  last  chapter.  This  was  the  mail  that 
would  carry  the' draft  for  £10,000  on  the  London  and  West- 
minster Bank,  along  with  a  letter  from  the  Rio  bank,  stating 
that  they  had  cashed  Mr.  Gregory  Morrison's  draft  upon  the 
letter  issued  by  them. 

Twenty-two  or  three  days  after  the  steamer  left  Rio  the 
London  bank  would  know  their  correspondents  in  Rio  had 
been  victimized,  but  8,000  miles  of  blue  water  was  between 
them,  with  no  way  to  bridge  it  but  by  steam;  so  we  had  at 
least  forty-four  days  more  to  gather  in  our  harvest.  I  ought 
to  say,  apparently  forty-four  more  days,  for  by  an  amazing 
blunder  we  were  about  to  bring  a  storm  upon  our  heads. 

The  steamer  we  purposed  to  load  our  money  on  and  our- 
selves, too,  was  the  Chimborazo,  advertised  to  arrive  on  Tues- 
day and  to  leave  for  the  River  Plate  and  the  west  coast  the 
next  day.  So  it  was  agreed  that  on  Monday  Mac  should  go 
to  the  bank  and  arrange  to  cash  his  letters  for  twenty  or  thirty 
thousand  pounds,  and  go  the  next  day  for  the  money.  As 
soon  as  Mac  came  from  the  bank  and  announced  that  all  was 
well,  another  of  us  was  to  call  at  the  Bank  of  London  and  Rio 
and  the  River  Plate  Bank,  present  his  letters  of  introduction 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  169 

and  ask  in  each  bank  to  have  the  five  thousand  pounds  or  ten 
thousand  pounds  ready  the  next  day.  They  purposed  to  call 
about  1 1  o'clock,  so  as  to  give  me  time  to  exchange  the  Bra- 
zilian bank  notes  for  sovereigns,  and  to  buy  my  ticket  by  the 
Chimborazo,  to  secure  my  stateroom  and  to  take  the  gold  to 
the  steamer,  and,  above  all,  to  get  my  passport  vised  by  the 
police. 

Monday  came.  We  expected  a  nervous  day,  not  such  a 
paralyzingly  nervous  one  as  it  proved  to  be.  In  fact,  a  nerv- 
ous Tuesday  followed  a  nervous  Monday.  My  reader  must 
remember  that  we  were  in  the  tropics,  wit'.i  a  bl  .zing  sun  look- 
ing down  on  us  with  an  intensity  that  made  one  long  for 
Greenland's  icy  mountains  to  cool  us. 

We  went  into  the  public  park  for  our  last  consultation  be- 
fore our  fortune,  which  never  came,  was  to  come. 

Mac  had  in  the  little  morocco  case  in  his  pocket  two  letters 
each  for  £20,000.  Certainly  no  man  in  the  world,  save  him, 
could  have  carried  ofT  such  a  game  played  for  such  high 
stakes.  Handsome  in  person,  faultless  in  address,  cool  in 
nerve,  a  master  of  all  the  languages  spoken  in  Rio — Portu- 
guese, Spanish,  Italian  and  French.  Above  all,  he  had  a 
boundless  confidence  in  himself-  What  an  honorable  future 
might  have  been  his  but  for  his  youthful  follies!  Truly  he 
could  have  achieved  a  wonderful  success  in  any  honorable 
career.  Unhappily  for  him,  he,  like  thousands  of  our  brain- 
iest youth,  had  entered  the  Primrose  Way.  In  our  youthful 
fire  and  thoughtlessness  we  saw  only  the  flowers  and  heard 
the  siren's  song,  but  at  last  the  Primrose  Way  led  us  down 
into  a  gloom  where  all  the  flowers  withered  and  the  gay 
songs  turned  into  dirges. 

Looking  at  his  watch  Mac  jumped  up,  saying:  "It  is  10.45 
and  time  to  be  of?."  So  he  started  for  the  bank,  we  follow- 
ing at  some  distance,  our  nerves  all  on  the  stretch.  We  felt 
that  our  lives  and  fortunes  were  trembling  in  the  balance. 
The  minutes  dragged  like  hours.    While  watching  we  saw 


170  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

several  persons  enter  or  leave  the  bank,  and  still  our  friend 
delayed  his  appearance. 

To  our  suspicious  minds  there  appeared  to  be  strange 
movements  about  the  bank  that  boded  ill  for  us.  A  thou- 
sand suspicions  born  of  our  fears  came  and  went  through 
our  minds,  until  at  last,  unable  to  endure  the  suspense,  I 
entered  the  bank  myself,  and  stood  there,  pretending  I  was 
waiting  for  some  one.  I  sharply  scrutinized  every  one  and 
everything.  Mac  was  somewhere  out  of  sight  in  the  private 
offices.  The  clerks  were  gossiping  together,  and  that  fact 
to  me  was  suspicious.  Then,  to  my  alarm,  a  bank  clerk  en- 
tered from  the  street  with  an  eagle-eyed  man,  a  Hebrew,  evi- 
dently, of  about  45  years  of  age.  Both  passed  hurriedly 
into  the  private  office,  leaving  me  in  an  agony  of  suspense. 
My  only  relief  at  that  moment  was  the  thought  that  George 
and  myself  had  not  as  yet  compromised  ourselves,  and  could, 
in  the  event  of  Mac's  arrest,  manage  to  save  him,  either  by 
bribery  or  a  rescue. 

Without  appearing  to  do  so,  I  watched  that  dingy,  mot- 
tled door  leading  into  the  private  office  until  every  crack  and 
seam  in  it  was  photographed  indelibly  on  my  brain. 

In  the  trying  periods  of  one's  life,  when  the  heart  and  soul 
are  on  the  rack,  how  strangely  trifling  details  of  the  objects 
about  one  will  be  noticed  and  remembered.  It  seems  some 
cell  of  the  brain,  quite  separate  from  the  cell  of  feeling  and 
sensation,  works  calmly  and  steadily  on,  photographing  the 
material  of  one's  surroundings. 

I  can  never  forget  a  flower  worn  by  a  lady  giiest  at  my 
table,  when,  in  the  midst  of  enjoyment  and  surrounded  by 
friends,  the  hand  of  the  law  in  the  form  of  a  burly  detective 
was  laid  on  me  in  Cuba.  In  all  the  misery  and  humiliation 
of  that  scene  I  remember  the  peculiar  color  of  the  wood  of 
a  cigar  box  standing  on  the  sideboard.  Doubtless  each  of 
my  readers  will  recall  some  similar  phenomenon  in  his  own 
life. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  171 

At  last,  unable  to  endure  the  suspense,  above  all,  the  un- 
certainty, I  went  to  the  little  door,  and,  opening  it,  looked  in. 
To  my  intense  relief  I  saw  Mac  sitting  there  apparently  talk- 
ing unconcernedly  with  Braga,  the  manager,  and  the  Hebrew. 
As  I  had  not  attracted  attention  I  closed  the  door,  went  out 
in  the  street  and  gave  George  the  pre-arranged  signal  that  all 
was  well.  Just  then  our  partner  appeared  but  with  telltale 
face.  It  was  flushed  with  chagrin  and  vexation,  and  there 
was  gone  from  the  contour  of  his  body  that  indescribable 
port  that  tells,  better  than  words,  of  confidence  and  victory 

We  went  by  different  routes  to  our  rendezvous,  and  I  will 
leave  it  to  the  imagination  of  my  readers  to  picture  our  state 
of  mind  as  we  listened  to  his  recital  of  woe — ^the  tale  of  Pri- 
am's Troy  over  again. 

Mac  had  been  cordially  received  by  the  manager,  and  had 
told  him  he  would  require  £20,000  the  next  day;  would  he 
please  have  it  ready?  The  manager  replied  that  he  did 
not  require  any  more  exchange  on  London,  but  that  he  would 
send  out  for  his  broker,  who  would  sell  his  bills  on  the  ex- 
change. He  (the  manager)  would  indorse  the  bills  of  ex- 
change and  indorse  the  amounts  on  his  letters  of  credit.  Of 
course,  I\Iac  could  only  acquiesce,  and  Mr.  Braga  sent  a  clerk 
to  his  broker,  Mr.  Meyers,  to  come  around.  This  was  the 
sharp-eyed  Hebrew  whom  I  saw  enter. 

The  manager  introduced  Meyers  to  "Mr.  Gregory  Morri- 
son," and  explained  that  he  was  to  sell  exchange  for  £20,000 
on  Morrison's  credit,  which  the  bank  would  indorse.  Mey- 
ers said:  "Please  show  me  your  letters."  Putting  his  hand 
into  his  breast  pocket  and  pulling  out  the  little  morocco  case 
containing  the  two  letters,  he  handed  the  case  and  contents 
to  Meyers,  who,  probably  without  suspicion  of  anything  be- 
ing wrong,  unrolled  both  letters,  and  holding  them  in  his 
hands,  ran  his  sharp  eyes  down  one  of  them  and  read  right 
through  the  body  of  the  letter.  They  came  to  the  "note," 
which  read:  "All  sums  drawn  against  this  credit  please  en» 


172  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

dorce  on  the  back,  and  notify  the  London  and  Westminster 
Bank  at  once."  Here  he  suddenly  halted,  turned  his  hawk's 
eye  on  Mac  and  said:  "Why,  sir,  here's  the  word  indorse  mis- 
spelled. Surely  the  clerks  in  the  London  banks  know  how 
to  spell!" 

Here  was  a  thunderbolt,  indeed,  that  pierced  poor  Mr. 
Gregory  Morrison  through  and  through,  but  he  showed  no 
sign.  He  coolly  remarked  that  he  did  not  care  to  have  his 
bills  sold  on  the  exchange,  but  would  go  and  see  the  people 
of  the  London  and  Rio  and  River  Plate  Banks,  as  they  prob- 
ably would  want  exchange  and  would  doubtless  let  him  have 
what  money  he  required.  Meyers  said  very  sharply,  "Have 
you  letters  to-those  banks?"  "I  have,"  said  Mac,  at  the  same 
time  producing  two,  one  to  each  bank,  and  each  bearing  the 
stamp  of  their  respective  banks. 

That  he  had  these  letters  was  a  happy  thing,  and  no  one 
under  forty  days'  time  could  say  for  a  fact  that  they  were  not 
genuine.  The  dramatic  production  of  these  letters  lulled 
the  fast  gathering  suspicions,  and  would  have  called  a  halt 
had  they  purposed  any  serious  action,  for  the  reason  that  dur- 
ing the  forty  days  it  would  take  to  communicate  with  Lon- 
don the  credits  could  not  be  proved  to  be  forgeries.  That 
such  letters  existed  at  all  was  due  entirely  to  the  foresight 
which  had  provided  to  meet  just  such  a  contingency. 

We  all  were  for  a  brief  few  seconds  utterly. dumfounded, 
but  quickly  aroused  ourselves  to  the  necessity  of  instant  ac- 
tion to  protect  our  comrade.  We  saw  that  we  must  at  once 
give  over  all  thought  of  trying  to  do  any  more  business  in 
Rio,  and  set  all  our  inventions  and  energy  at  work  to  save 
the  £10,000  and  to  smuggle  our  companion  safely  out  of  Rio. 
But  how? 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

ONCiii    JSTORE    WE     SAIL.    THE     SEAS    OVER. 

I-Iere  in  our  country  we  know  nothing'  of  the  annoyances 
and  humbuggery  of  the  passport  system,  but  now,  as  in  1872, 
every  person  desiring  to  leave  Brazil  must  be  provided  with 
a  passport — if  a  foreigner,  from  his  own  Government;  if  a 
native,  one  from  the  government  of  Brazil.  When  ready  to 
leave  the  country  he  must  take  his  passport  to  police  head- 
quarters and  get  it  vised,  at  the  same  time  notifying  the  police 
of  the  steamer  he  proposes  to  sail  on.  Leaving  the  passport 
with  the  agent  from  whom  he  buys  his  ticket,  the  latter,  after 
ascertaining  from  the  police  that  the  intending  passenger  is 
not  wanted  by  the  authorities,  transmits  the  passport  to  the 
purser  of  the  steamer,  who,  in  tiEii,  hands  it  to  the  passenger 
after  the  vessel  is  at  sea. 

It  will  be  seen  that  these  regulations  make  it  difficult  for 
a  suspected  person  to  lea.ve  Brazil  by  the  regular  channels 
of  communication,  and  there  are  no  back  doors  of  escape 
in  that  country.  Once  in  any  seaport  town  you  must,  if  you 
leave  at  all,  sail  out  of  the  harbor  mouth,  for  in  the  other  di- 
rection, that  is,  inland,  one  is  confronted  by  the  mighty  trop- 
ical forests,  the  greater  portion  of  which  has  never  been 
looked  upon  by  the  eye  of  man ;  and  between  all  the  seaports 
the  same  impenetrable  forest  stretches. 

So,  straight  out  of  the  harbor  between  the  Sugar  Loaf  and 
Fort  Santa  Cruz  Mac  had  to  sail.  How  he  should  do  so  with 
safety  was  the  problem  we  h^d  to  solve.     In  this  venture  it 

(173) 


174  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

would  not  do  to  have  any  blunders.  Without  doubt  the 
steamers  would  be  watched  for  him,  and  instant  arrest  and  in- 
carceration in  the  deadly  tropical  prison  would  be  his  lot  if 
discovered  in  the  attempt  to  slip  out  of  the  country. 

To  complicate  the  matter  here  it  was  Monday,  and  no 
steamer  to  sail  until  Wednesday,  so  there  were  forty-eight 
hours  of  frightful  anxiety  ahead  of  us. 

The  Ebro,  going  to  Europe,  was  in  the  harbor  taking  in 
cargo  and  coal.  The  Chimborazo,  going  South,  was  not  yet 
signaled,  and  we  determined  at  all  hazards  to  get  him  off  by 
the  Ebro.  We  all  had  American  passports,  and  by  the  use 
of  chemicals  could  alter  the  names  and  descriptions  on  them 
at  will. 

Of  course,  the  names  in  our  passports  were  the  same  as  we 
had  in  our  letters.  George  went  to  police  headquarters,  and 
giving  a  douceur  to  an  attendant,  had  the  "vise"  put  on  his 
passport  at  once.  Then  going  to  the  passenger  agent  he 
bought  a  ticket  to  Liverpool  by  the  Ebro,  and  by  paying  ten 
guineas  extra  had  a  stateroom  assigned  to  him  alone.  After 
this  he  took  a  boat  and  went  out  to  the  steamer,  carrying  with 
him  two  bags  of  oranges  and  stowed  them  away  under  the 
bottom  berths. 

To  make  the  escape  a  success  it  was  decided  prudent  for 
George  as  Wilson  to  get  the  agent  well  acquainted  with  his 
face  and  appearance,  so  if  the  question  was  asked,  "Who  is 
this  Wilson?"  the  police  would  see  by  the  description  it  was 
not  the  man  they  were  looking  for.  For  the  next  forty  hours 
George  made  the  agent  very  tired.  At  one  time  he  would 
want  to  know  if  he  could  not  get  some  reduction  in  the  pas- 
senger rate,  or  if  the  Ebro  was  seaworthy,  or  if  there  was  any 
danger  of  her  engines  breaking  down,  etc.,  until  the  agent 
got  not  only  to  know  "Mr  Wilson,"  but  wished  him  at  the 
bottom  of  the  sea. 

When  George  started  for  the  police  office  he  left  Mac  and 
me  alone  in  the  park. 


•POI^rnNG    TO    THE  GOLD,    MAC    SAID:     'BOYS.    HELP    YOUR- 
SJ^LVES."— Page  244. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  175 

It  was  absolutely  essential  that  Mac  should  put  in  one  more 
appearance  at  the  bank.  It  was  an  ordeal,  but  one  he  had  to 
undergo.  He  even  dreaded  to  return  to  liis  hotel,  but  go  he 
must;  so,  just  before  the  bank  closed,  he  called  in  and  casu- 
ally informed  the  manager  that  he  should  start  the  next 
morning  for  S.  Romao,  a  town  in  the  interior  of  Brazil,  to 
be  absent  a  week.  He  was  then  to  go  to  the  Hotel  d'Europe, 
pav  his  bill,  at  the  same  time  stating  that  he  was  to  leave  Rio 
by  the  4  o'clock  train  the  hext  morning,  for  San  Paulo.  As 
Mac  had  two  trunks  and  other  impedimenta  befitting  a  man 
of  his  importance,  it  was  necessary  to  take  a  carriage  to  the 
station,  which  was  nearly  a  mile  distant.  It  would  be  unsafe 
to  go  in  a  carriage  belonging  to  the  hotel ;  therefore,  he  was 
to  say  that  a  friend  would  call  for  him.  As  it  was  still  two 
hours  to  sunset,  I  suggested  that  after  he  had  arranged  mat- 
ters he  should  saunter  out,  walk  about  the  streets  until  dark, 
then  return  to  the  hotel  and  be  ready  when  George  should 
call  for  him   at  3  o'clock  the  next  morning. 

After  these  arrangements  we  separated,  George  and  I  fol- 
lowing to  ascertain  if  he  was  being  watched  or  shadowed  by 
detectives.  When  he  entered  the  hotel  we  remained  in  view 
of  the  entrance.  It  was  not  long  before  he  reappeared 
and  walked  leisurely  along  the  street.  A  few  seconds  after  we 
saw  another  man  come  out,  cross  the  street,  and  go  in  the 
same  direction.  I  followed  him,  and  was  soon  satisfied  that 
he  was  keeping  Mac  in  view.  This  sort  of  double  hunt  was 
kept  up  until  dusk,  when  Mac  returned  to  his  hotel,  uncon- 
scious that  a  moment  later  his  "shadow"  entered  the  place 
also.  Here  was  a  complication,  indeed,  though  it  was  no 
more  than  we  had  anticipated  among  the  possibilities;  still, 
I  had  indulged  in  the  hope  that  the  bank  would  rely  entirely 
upon  the  passport  system,  and  take  no  further  steps  for  a  day 
or  two,  which  was  all  the  time  required  to  carry  out  our  plan. 
Though  Mac  had  good  nerve,  it  was  already  somewhat  shak- 
en, and  surely  the  situation  would  have  unnerved  most  men. 


176  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Therefore,  fearing  that  the  certain  knowledge  of  immi- 
nent danger  might  still  further  confuse  him  and  cause 
some  false  move,  we  determined  to  keep  our  discovery  to 
ourselves. 

George  next  proceeded  to  an  obscure  part  of  the  town,  and 
stopping  at  a  small  but  respectable  looking  tavern,  he  en- 
gaged a  room  for  the  next  day,  also  a  carriage,  with  an  Eng- 
lish-speaking driver,  to  be  in  readiness  at  3  o'clock  the  next 
morning.  Promptly  at  the  hour  he  was  at  the  livery  stable, 
where  he  found  the  carriage  ready,  and  was  driven  to  the  Ho- 
tel d'Europe.  Sending  the  driver  up  to  the  ofifice  on  the  sec- 
ond floor,  Mac  soon  appeared  and  informed  him  that  he  had 
promised  to  take  to  the  station  a  man  who  was  stopping  at 
the  hotel.  "He  is  going  to  S.  Romao  by  the  same  train," 
continued  Mac,  "and  seems  a  good  fellow,  for  I  had  a  long 
talk  with  him  last  night."  Upon  seeing  signs  of  disapproval 
in  my  face,  he  explained :  "Well,  you  know,  he  said  he  could 
not  get  a  carriage  at  so  early  an  hour  in  the  morning,  and  I 
thought  it  could  do  no  harm  to  take  him  in,  and  he  is  wait- 
ing upstairs." 

Here  I  joined  them,  and  it  would  be  difficult  for  the  reader 
to  imagine  the  eflfect  of  this  surprising  communication  upon 
our  minds,  for  it  was  clear  enough  that  this  was  the  very 
person  who  had  been  "shadowing"  Mac  the  day  before,  and 
had  skillfully  ingratiated  himself  into  his  new  friend's  con- 
fidence. I  could  but  admire  his  nerve  in  asking  a  contem- 
plated victim  for  a  ride  to  the  station.  I  said  to  Mac:  ''What 
in  the  world  can  you  be  thinking  of?  Don't  you  see  you  are 
blocking  our  whole  plan?  Go  up  and  tell  him  your  carriage 
is  loaded  down  with  luggage,  and  express  your  regrets  that 
you  cannot  accommodate  him." 

During  this  time  the  baggage  was  being  placed  in  the  car- 
riage, and  as  soon  as  Mac  had  dismissed  his  "passenger," 
who  for  some  reason  did  not  show  himself,  we  started  rap- 
idly for  the  station.    On  the  way  I  requested  him  to  avoid 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  177 

making  any  new  friends  until  he  should  find  himself  well  out 
at  sea.     I  said: 

"It  might  be  fatal  to  attract  the  attention  of  any  one,  or  to 
let  any  one  see  you  leave  the  train.  Of  course,  this  new  ac- 
quaintance of  yours  is  only  a  countryman,  but  it  is  not  pos- 
sible to  foresee  what  disaster  the  least  mistake  or  want  of 
caution  might  originate.  These  cars  are  on  the  English  sys- 
tem, divided  into  compartments.  You  must  go  into  the  sta- 
tion, stand  near  the  ticket  office  until  your  new  acquaintance 
comes,  then  observe  if  he  buys  a  first-class ;  if  so,  you  take  a 
second,  and  vice  versa.  Pay  no  attention  to  him,  and  let  him 
see  you  get  into  your  compartment,  but  keep  an  eye  on  his 
movements.  In  case  he  comes  to  get  in  where  you  are,  de- 
spite the  different  class  of  the  tickets,  tell  him  the  compart- 
ment is  engaged.  Everything  depends  on  how  you  carry 
yourself  through  the  next  twenty  minutes.  A  single  false 
step,  a  word  too  little  or  too  much,  will  surely  prove  fatal  to 
all,  for  if  anything  happens  to  you,  we  remain  in  Brazil." 

In  accordance  with  our  prearranged  plan,  I  stopped  the 
carriage  opposite  the  station,  it  being  still  dark.  Mac  alight- 
ed, went  straight  inside,  and  in  a  few  minutes  saw  his  "pas- 
senger" come  puffing  in,  nearly  out  of  breath.  Unquestion- 
ably supposing  Mac's  baggage  to  be  already  on  the  train,  he 
purchased  a  ticket,  and  after  seeing  his  intended  victim  enter 
a  compartment,  got  into  another  himself  just  ?.s  the  train  be- 
gan to  move.  This  was  the  vital  moment  for  which  Mac  had 
been  waiting,  and,  quickly  opening  the  door  on  the  opposite 
side,  he  stepped  ofif  on  that  side,  hastily  crossed  to  the  other 
platform  of  the  dimly  lighted  station,  and  made  his  way  un- 
noticed into  the  street.  While  this  was  passing,  I  sat  in  the 
carriage,  and  it  was  not  many  minutes  before  I  had  the  sat- 
isfaction of  seeing  Mac  coming  back.  But  for  the  benefit  of 
the  driver  we  then  had  a  dialogue  somewhat  as  follows  : 

"It  is  too  bad.  Our  friends  have  not  arrived.  What  shall 
we  do?" 


178  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGfATE 

"Well,  I  suppose  we  must  go  back  to  the  hotel  and  wait  for 
the  afternoon  train,"  I  answered. 

"But  I  have  paid  my  bill  there,"  said  Mac,  "and  do  not  care 
to  go  back." 

"Then,"  I  replied,  "meet  me  at  the  station,  and  I  will  look 
after  the  luggage." 

In  case  they  recovered  the  trail,  the  information  obtained 
from  the  driver  would  cause  confusion  and  delay  sufficient, 
I  hoped,  to  enable  us  to  get  Mac  out  of  Rio. 

I  then  told  the  coachman  to  drive  me  into  the  city.  It  was 
not  yet  daylight,  but  after  a  while  I  saw  a  sort  of  eating  house 
and  tavern  combined,  and  had  the  carriage  halted  there. 
Alighting,  I  entered  and  said  to  the  person  in  charge!  that  I 
did  not  wish  to  disturb  my  friends  at  so  early  an  hour,  and 
would  pay  him  for  taking  care  of  my  baggage,  as  I  wished  to 
discharge  the  carriage.  The  offer  was,  of  course,  accepted, 
the  baggage  housed  and  the  carriage  dismissed.  In  the  mean 
time  Mac  was  waiting  for  us  in  an  appointed  place  not  far 
away,  where  I  joined  him,  and  we  went  to  the  obscure  tavern 
where  the  room  had  been  engaged.  George  was  await- 
ing us. 

So  far  our  plan  was  successful.  Mac  was  safely  hidden 
away,  while  his  clever  friend  was  speeding  miles  away  on  a 
wild  goose  chase.  There  was  only  one  train  a  day  each  way, 
and  we  knew  the  detective  could  not  get  back  to  Rio  until 
late.  We  felt  certain  that  when  he  found  Mac  was  not 
on  the  train  he  would  think  his  intended  victim  had  slipped 
off  at  some  way  station — possibly  with  a  view  of  making  his 
escape  into  the  interior;  even  if  he  sent  a  dispatch  to  the 
bank — an  unlikely  thing  for  a  Brazilian  to  do — it  would 
doubtless  be  to  the  effect  that  his  quarry  had  left  Rio  on  the 
early  train  that  morning  with  him. 

We  passed  some  trying  hours  together.  Then  George 
left  to  take  !Mac's  baggage  off  to  the  steamer.  He  engaged 
two  stalwart  porters;  they  stand  on  every  corner  busily  en- 


VIA  THE  primhose  way.  181 

gaged  in  plaiting  straw  for  hats  while  waiting  for  a  job.  Di- 
viding the  baggage  between  the  two  he  had  it  carried  to  the 
wharf,  and,  taking  a  small  boat,  quickly  had  it  stowed  in  the 
hold  and  the  small  articles  carried  to  the  stateroom.  vSoon 
after  he  joined  us  on  shore. 

It  was  but  lo  o'clock  when  he  came,  and  it  was  with  some- 
thing like  dismay  that  we  realized  that  the  whole  day  was 
before  us.  Until  the  day  before,  when  Mac  was  in  the  bank, 
I  had  never  known  how  long  an  hour  was,  but  this  day  we 
all  came  to  know  how  long  a  day  could  be. 

The  Ebro  was  anchored  out  in  the  bay.  Her  coal  was  all 
stowed,  but  strings  of  barges  laden  with  sacks  of  coffee  were 
alongside.     She  was  advertised  to  sail  sharp  at  noon. 

I  went  out  once  or  twice  to  the  bank  and  police  headquar- 
ters, hanging  about  for  a  few  minutes  to  see  if  there  was  any- 
thing suspicious,  but  there  was  nothing,  and  each  time  I  has- 
tened back  to  Mac. 

Our  presence  cheered  him  up,  and  he  could  not  brook  our 
absence.  At  last  the  long  day  drew  to  an  end  and  the  shad- 
ows, to  our  intense  relief,  began  to  darken  in  our  little  room, 
where  we  were  holding  our  watch.  The  tropic  night  closes 
quickly  in.  Soon  the  city  was  sh|rouded  in  darkness,  and 
we  sallied  out  to  the  beach  at  the  head  of  the  bay  to  find  re- 
lief in  movement.  The  time  passed  quicker  then,  and  at  last 
we  sat  down  on  some  wreckage  there  and  watched  the  tropic 
night  as  it  revealed  its  wealth  of  stars,  and  sitting  there  we 
began  to  philosophize,  moralizing  upon  the  destiny  of 
man  and  his  relations  to  things  seen  and  unseen,  upon 
spiritual  force;  most  of  all  upon  divine  justice,  which  in  the 
end  evens  up  all  things.  But  like  so  many  other  philoso- 
phers who  write  the  style  of  the  gods  and  make  a  pish  at 
fortune,  we  failed  to  make  a  personal  application  of  our  phi- 
losophy. 

Near  by  there  was  a  boat  stand  from  which  we  had  re- 
solved to  embark  for  the  steamer  about  two  miles  awajr, 

n 


182  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

The  night  was  lovely  as  a  dream,  and  we  knew  that  midnight 
would  find  a  large  number  of  passengers  on  deck,  many  of 
whom  would  pass  the  night  there.  Forward  was  all  the  bus- 
tle and  confusion  inseparable  from  receiving  and  stowing 
cargo. 

At  9  o'clock  I  left  them  to  go  and  get  the  remainder  of  the 
gold  not  yet  on  board — some  four  thousand  pounds.  The 
street  cars  passed  near  by,  and  within  half  an  hour  I  returned 
with  the  gold  in  a  bag  swung  from  my  shoulder  by  a  heavy 
strap.  I  also  had  with  me  a  woman's  wrap  and  a  silk  shawl. 
We  sat  for  an  hour  longer,  and  then  securing  a  boat  with 
two  negro  rowers,  we  pulled  for  the  ship.  Three  or  four 
small  boats  were  fastened  to  the  companion  ladder,  and  our 
arrival  attracted  no  attention.  Two  officials  in  uniform — 
probably  custom  officers — stood  at  the  companion  way.  It 
was  an  anxious  moment,  but  we  slipped  through  the  dimly 
lighted  cabins  an^^  passages,  and  were  soon  safely  in  the 
stateroom.  Bidding  both  good-bye,  and  promising  to  be  on 
board  again  at  8  in  the  morning,  I  went  ashore  and  straight 
to  bed,  and  soon  was  dreaming  of  starlit  seas,  of  tropic  woods 
and  Summer  bowers,  white  and  sweet  with  May  blossoms. 

My  health  then,  as  now,  was  perfect,  and  I  awoke  fresh  and 
hopeful.  After  breakfasting  on  a  dish  of  prawns  and  another 
of  soft-shelled  crabs,  I  was  off  across  the  bay.     Soon  after 

8  I  knocked  softly  at  the  stateroom  door,  was  admitted  and 
presented  the  lunch  I  had  brought.  They  gave  me  a  warm 
greeting,  but  neither  had  slept.  The  room  had  been  hot  and 
stuffy,  and  the  noise  of  stowing  cargo  had  helped  to  banish 
sleep.  Both  were  unnerved  somewhat,  but  I  had  just  come 
off  shore  confident  and  cheerful,  and  my  confidence  and  spir- 
its proved  infectious. 

I  knew  by  sight  the  chief  of  police  and  those  just  under 
him.  I  also  knew  Braga,  the  bank  manager,  by  sight.  They, 
of  course,  did  not  know  me,  and  I  could,  unsuspected,  be  a 
looker-on  in  Vienna.     Soon  the  passengers,  their  friends 


VIA  THE  PniMROSE  WAY.  183 

and  many  idle  visitors  came  off  in  boatloads,  while  I, 
of  course,  scrutinized  every  boatload  as  it  came  up  the  side  of 
the  ship. 

At  9.30  I  saw  a  boat  coming,  which,  when  half  a  mile 
away,  I  recognized  as  containing  the  chief  of  police  and  sev- 
eral of  his  subordinates;  ten  minutes  after  Braga  and  one  of 
the  bank  officials  came,  the  only  passengers  in  their  boat,  and 
at  once  joined  the  police  on  the  after  deck  and  stood  with 
them  waiting  and  watching  the  boats  as  they  arrived.  In 
the  mean  time  babel  reigned  around  the  ship.  About  three 
score  boats  surrounded  her,  the  owners  selling  to  the  passen- 
gers everything  from  oranges  to  monkeys,  snakes  and  par- 
rots. 

I  determined  to  conceal  from  George  and  Mac  that  Braga 
and  the  police  were  on  the  ship,  and  about  every  twenty  min- 
utes I  would  slip  down  and  report  "All's  well ;"  but  soon  after 
10  o'clock  the  enemy  were  joined  by  the  ticket  agent  from 
shore,  and  I  could  see  they  were  contemplating  some  move- 
ment. Slipping  down  to  the  cabin,  I  said :  "Boys,  everything  is 
all  right;  keep  perfectly  cool.  Braga  and  the  police  are  pull- 
ing to  the  ship  and  may  search  it;  if  so,  it  will  take  half  an 
hour  to  get  here.  I  will  keep  everything  in  my  eye  and  give 
you  ample  notice."  I  then  returned  on  deck  and  stood 
among  the  officials.  They  conversed  in  Portuguese,  which 
was  Greek  to  me;  soon  the  agent  dived  below  and  reap- 
peared with  the  manifest  of  the  passengers,  and  an  enormous 
heap  of  passports.  After  some  conversation  they  sent  the 
passports  back ;  then,  headed  by  the  agent  and  purser,  mani- 
fest in  hand,  they  began  to  verify  the  list  and  scrutinize  the 
passengers  in  the  staterooms.  Once  more  I  hurried  below 
and  reported. 

Mac  was  naturally  very  dignified,  but  divesting  himself  of 
coat,  vest  and  dignity  at  the  same  time,  he  planted  himself 
under  the  berth.  Very  close  and  very  hot  quarters  he  found 
it,  and  we  put  the  bags  of  oranges  in  front,  disposing  of  then^ 


184  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

SO  as  to  make  it  appear  as  if  they  filled  the  whole  space, 
when  in  reality  they  were  a  mere  screen. 

Then  we  opened  the  door  to  the  fullest  extent.  We  had 
taken  off  our  coats — it  being  frightfully  hot — and  with  a  bot- 
tle of  claret  and  a  bowl  of  ice  standing  on  the  little  wash- 
stand  and  two  glasses  all  in  full  view,  we  awaited  the  arrival 
of  our  friends,  the  enemy. 

Our  door  was  flat  against  the  partition,  giving  a  full  sweep 
of  the  room  to  the  eye  of  the  passerby,  and  George  and  I 
waited  confidently  for  the  inspection  we  knew  was  inevitable. 
I  sat  on  the  foot  of  the  lower  berth,  smoking  and  swinging 
my.  feet.  George  sat  on  a  folding  camp-stool,  with  his  face 
toward  the  door,  but  not  obstructing  the  view.  Soon  the 
procession  arrived,  with  the  ticket  agent  in  front:  When  he 
saw  George  he  at  once  recognized  him  as  the  Mr.  Wilson 
who  had  bought  the  ticket,  and  he  simply  said:  "How  do 
you  do,  Mr.  Wilson?"  and  passed  on  without  looking  in  the 
room.  Braga  and  the  police  followed,  casually  glanced  at  us 
two,  and  were  gone.  I  put  on  my  coat  and  followed  the 
procession,  and  at  11.30  they  went  up  on  the  after  deck,  evi- 
dently satisfied  that  their  man  was  not  on  the  ship,  and  con- 
tented themselves  with  watching  new  arrivals.  I  flew  down, 
gave  them  the  good  news  that  the  search  was  over,  and  poor 
Mac,  half-roasted^  came  from  behind  the  bags  of  oranges. 
Declaring  he  was  roasted  alive  and  dying  of  thirst,  he  fin- 
ished the  bottle  of  iced  claret. 

Ten  minutes  before  12  the  bell  was  rung  and  all  people 
for  shore  were  warned  to  leave.  Soon  we  heard  the  pleas- 
ant sound  of  the  steam  winch  lifting  the  anchor,  and  at 
noon  precisely,  to  our  relief,  the  screw  began  to  revolve  at 
quarter  speed,  and  the  Ebro  to  respond  by  forging  slowly 
ahead.  All  boats  fell  off  but  ours  and  the  police  boat.  At 
last,  after  giving  a  good  look  up  and  down  the  bay,  Braga 
and  the  police  entered  the  boats,  and,  casting  off,  soon  were 
left  behind.    Once  more  and  for  the  last,  time  I  flew  down 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  185 

to  the  cabin.  They  saw  the  good  news  in  my  face;  then, 
shaking  Mac's  hand  in  hearty  farewell,  we  ran  to  the  upper 
deck,  down  the  ladder  into  our  boat,  and  a  moment  later  the 
big  ship,  putting  on  full  steam,  left  us  astern,  we  ordering 
the  boatman  to  pull  hard  after  the  ship.  Mac  soon  appeared 
on  the  after  deck,  and  waved  his  handkerchief  to  us  in  fare- 
well. We  gave  him  three  cheers,  and,  excited  and  happy, 
with  our  long  anxiety  over,  we  returned  to  the  shore. 

With  Mac  sailing  northward  ho!  with  Wilson's  passport 
and  ticket  in  his  pocket,  and  all  our  money  save  two  thou- 
sand pounds  in  his  trunk,  our  buccaneering  expedition  on 
the  Spanish  Main  was  over  and  all  but  a  failure  when  com- 
paring the  i  1 0,000  we  had  captured  with  our  magnificent 
expectations. 

Here  was  a  gigantic  and  well-conceived  scheme  which  had 
almost  collapsed  through  trifles,  which,  to  an  honest  enter- 
prise would  have  been  light  as  air,  but  which  to  us  and  to 
our  plans  were  of  crushing  force,  built  up,  as  all  schemes  of 
wrong  doing  are,  on  foundations  of  sand. 

To  conclude  very  briefly  the  narrative  of  this  expedition,  I 
will  here  add  that  the  day  after  Mac's  departure,  altering  his 
passport  to  fit  George's  description,  we  sailed  on  the  Chim- 
borazo  south  to  Montevideo.  Upon  our  arrival  we,  with 
all  other  passengers  for  the  town,  were  promptly  put  in  quar- 
antine for  ten  days  in  a  vile  little  island  called  in  irony  the  Isle 
of  Flowers ;  but  the  mails  were  fumigated  and  sent  through, 
as  were  two  additional  mails  arriving  from  Europe  and  Rio. 
When  our  quarantine  was  over  we  were  permitted  to  enter 
the  city.  We  found  that  some  advice  or  rumor  had  reached 
there,  and  we  feared  to  venture  our  letters  of  credit  for 
money.  So,  destroying  all  documents  save  our  passports, 
we  paid  a  visit  to  Buenos  Ayres,  and  then  we  embarked  on  a 
French  steamer  for  Marseilles,  arriving  there  without  any 
particular  adventure,  and  the  next  day  had  a  happy  meeting 
with  Mac  in  Paris. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

LITTLE  FISHES  WRIGGLING    THROUGH    GREEN    WAVES. 

Once  more  together  and  our  adventures  since  we  sepa- 
rated related,  the  question  arose:  What  next? 

We  determined  to  abandon  our  dangerous  business,  for 
we  had  capital  sufficient  to  start  in  an  honest  career,  and  re- 
solved to  do  so.  For  a  long  time  our  attention  had  been 
turned  to  Colorado,  and  we  had  frequently  talked  over  a 
project  of  going  to  some  growing  city  there,  starting  a  bank 
and  building  a  wheat  elevator  and  stockyards.  Fifty  thou- 
sand dollars  would  start  our  bank,  and  $10,000,  with  some 
credit,  the  elevator  and  yards.  This  sum  we  had,  with  an  ad- 
ditional $10,000  to  pay  our  way  until  profit  came  in  from  our 
investments.  Here  was  another  great  and  honorable  scheme 
— one  easily  carried  out  had  we  only  gone  on  with  it.  What 
a  success  we  might  have  made,  particularly  so  when  consid- 
ered in  the  light  of  the  development  of  Colorado  since  1872 
and  our  energy  and  knowledge  of  business. 

In  Paris  we  all  stopped  at  the  Hotel  Meurice,  Rue  Rivoli, 
and  spent  much  time  sightseeing.  We  were  particularly 
interested  in  viewing  the  battlefields  around  Paris — so  in- 
terested, in  fact,  that  we  read  up  the  whole  history  of  the 
mighty  struggle  with  Germany,  which  ended  in  throwing 
France  into  the  dust.  We,  like  most  of  the  world  here,  got 
our  ideas  of  the  war  and  the  battles  from  the  current  news  of 
the  day,  as  published  in  the  newspapers,  and  we  had  a  gen- 
eral idea  that  the  Frenchmen  had  not  made  much  of  a  fight. 
a86) 


FROM  WALL   STREET  TO   NEWGATE.  187 

That  conclusion  could  only  be  arrived  at  by  a  superficial 
knowledge  such  as  had  been  ours.  Investigation  upon  the 
spot  and  a  study  of  impartial  authorities  soon  opened  our 
eyes  to  the  fact  that  France  only  succumbed  after  a  mighty 
and  most  heroic  struggle.  The  first  few  weeks  of  the  war 
saw  her  entire  regular  army  captive,  and  transported  pris- 
oners across  the  Rhine.  That  army  had  made  a  brave  but 
unfortunate  fight.  Badly  commanded,  with  the  transport 
and  subsistence  utterly  demoralized,  they  were  no  match  for 
the  mighty  hosts  that  Germany  poured  across  the  Rhine. 
Perfectly  equipped,  matchless  in  discipline  since  the  palmy 
days  of  Rome,  commanded  by  the  foremost  military  intellects 
of  the  age,  they  met  the  French,  overmatching  them  at  every 
point  of  contact;  enveloping  their  columns  with  masses  of 
infantry,  or  sweeping  them  with  murderous  storms  of  shot 
and  shell,  or  launching  a  magnificent  cavalry  at  them,  against 
which  French  valor — ill  directed  as  it  was — ^proved  futile, 
and  that  splendid  array  of  480,000  men  had  to  ground  their 
arms,  surrender  their  colors,  and,  to  their  own  unspeakable 
shame  and  humiliation,  become  captive  to  their  foes,  leaving 
their  beloved  France  defenseless.  But  the  loss  of  their 
army,  no  more  than  their  thronging  foes,  dismayed  France. 
The  heart  of  the  nation  was  stirred,  and  from  the  Rhine  to 
the  Atlantic,  from  the  Channel  to  the  blue  Mediterranean, 
France  rose  as  one  man.  They  saw  the  entire  military  force 
of  Germany  encamped  on  their  soil,  and  in  their  undiscip- 
lined valor,  hurled  themselves  against  it,  and  gave  to  their 
astounded  foes  an  exhibition  of  Titanic  force  and  determined 
valor  whose  story,  when  known,  will  become  the  admiration 
of  all  generations  of  men. 

It  was  against  the  decree  of  Heaven  that  France  should 
win  in  the  struggle,  but  she  fell  only  to  rise  the  higher  for  the 
fall.  The  year  1871  saw  Fnance  in  the  dust,  with  the  armies 
of  her  foe  encamped  over  more  than  half  her  soil,  with  rob- 
ber-like demands  for  huge  sums  of    gold  ere  the  modern 


188  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE3 

Goths  would  march  home  again.  To-day  she  stands  the 
marvel  of  the  world.  Twice  the  France  of  1870,  with  thu 
busy  hum  of  industry  through  all  her  borders,  an  overflowing 
treasury,  a  contented  people  and  an  army  and  navy  which  are 
the  awe  of  Europe.  To-day  the  enemy  that  flung  her  to  earth 
twenty-four  years  ago,  seeks  safety  from  her  attack  in  de- 
fensive alliances  with  all  the  nations  of  the  Continent. 

We  resolved  to  see  Europe  before  returning  to  America, 
so  the  next  few  weeks  were  spent  in  a  pleasure  jaunt 

In  the  course  of  it  we  visited  Vienna,  remaining  there  some 
time  and  bringing  away  many  and  pleasant  memories  of  that 
music-loving  old  city  on  the  Danube.  We«finally  all  returned 
to  Wiesbaden  together  and  visited  the  Casino,  watching  the 
play  and  players  with  an  interest  that  never  flagged.  Here 
we  saw  such  vast  sums  of  money  ever  changing  hands  that 
we  almost  insensibly  began  to  think  the  thousands  we  had 
were  as  nothing,  and  when  divided  up,  the  sum  coming  to 
each  seemed  almost  beggarly. 

Gradually  we  began  to  speculate  as  to  the  desirability  of 
doubling  our  capital  once  or  twice  at  least,  before  we  threw 
up  our  hands  and  gave  up  the  game.  I  need  hardly  tell  the 
reader  that  what  at  first  was  a  philosophical  speculation,  an 
airy  theory  of  a  possibility,  rapidly  crystallized  into  steadfast 
purpose  and  determinate  resolve,  and  soon  our  brains  were 
working,  and  readily  brought  forth  a  new  scheme.  For  was 
not  there  the  Bank  of  England,  with  uncounted  millions  in 
her  vaults,  and  was  not  I,  as  Frederick  Albert  Warren,  a  cus- 
tomer of  the  bank,  and  as  such  were  not  the  vaults  of  the 
bank  at  our  disposition? 

We  rated  our  powers  high  and  fondly  thought  that,  speak- 
ing in  a  general  way,  honesty  was  the  best  policy,  yet  in  our 
case  there  was  an  exception  to  the  rule.  We  felt  and  ac- 
knowledged we  were  doing  wrong,  but  since  the  wrong  (ap- 
parently) profited  us,  we  would  do  wrong  that  good  might 
come  thereby. 


VI  \  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  189 

Finally  we  resolved  to  go  on  with  our  postponed  assault 
upon  the  money  bags  of  the  Bank  of  England,  at  the  same 
time  evolving  a  plan  that  seemed  to  promise  unbounded 
wealth  and  complete  immunity  for  us  all. 

So  we  packed  our  baggage,  bade  farewell  to  Wiesbaden, 
and  one  early  June  morning  in  1872  saw  us  all  once  more 
in  smoky  London,  resolved  to  rouse  that  Old  Lady  called 
the  Bank  of  England  from  her  century-long  slumber  spent 
in  dreaming  of  her  impregnability. 

In  Frankfort  there  are  several  firms,  Fischer  by  name,  all 
bankers,  and  as  soon  as  we  determined  to  return  to  London, 
Mac  wrote  a  letter  in  French  to  the  Bank  of  England  and 
signed  it  H.  V.  Fischer,  which,  of  course,  would  leave 
the  manager  to  suppose  his  correspondent  was  one 
of  the  Fischer  bankers.  In  the  letter  he  said  his 
distinguished  customer,  Mr.  F.  A.  Warren,  had  writ- 
ten him  from  St.  Petersburg,  requesting  him  to  trans- 
fer to  his  account  in  the  Bank  of  England  the  small 
balance  remaining  to  his  credit  on  his  (Fischer's)  books, 
therefore  he  had  the  honor  to  inclose  bills  on  London 
for  £13,500,  payable  to  the  order  of  the  manager,  said  sum 
to  be  placed  to  the  credit  of  Mr.  F.  A.  Warren. 

I  took  this  letter  to  Frankfort,  and,  having  purchased  bills 
of  exchange  on  London  to  the  amount  named,  inclosed  them 
and  mailed  the  letter.  A  day  or  so  after  I  received  a  letter 
at  Frankfort  from  the  manager  of  the  bank,  acknowledging 
the  receipts  of  the  drafts,  and  announcing  that  the  proceeds 
of  the  same  had  duly  been  placed  to  the  credit  of  F.  A.  War- 
ren. So  I  had  over  $67,000  to  my  credit,  and  had  now  been 
a  depositor  for  five  months. 

George  took  up  his  residence  at  a  private  house  in  the 
west  end  of  London,  while  Mac  and  I  went  to  the  Grosvenor 
Hotel. 

This  hotel  was  one  of  the  very  few  then  in  England  which 
were  allowed  by  the  aristocrats  of  London  society  to  be  what 


190  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

they  called  highly  respectable,  that  is,  exclusive,  and,  there- 
fore, a  fit  dwelling  place  for  their  dainty  selves.  In  Dublin 
there  is  one  of  these  highly  respectable  hostels,  the  Gresham, 
on  Sackville  street.  This  hotel  was  a  type  of  all  of  the  sort  I 
mention.  I  once  stopped  at  the  Gresham  for  a  week  and 
became  one  of  the  "nobility  and  gentr,'"  that  frequent  these 
hotels.  The  waiters  all  wore  full-dress  suits,  faultless  in  cut 
and  fit,  and  the  chief  event  in  their  daily  existence,  the 
serving  of  the  table  d'hote,  wore  white  kid  gloves.  The  be- 
wildering changes  of  varied  colored  dishes  (I  mean  crock- 
ery ware),  was  something  to  make  one  stare.  Course  num- 
ber one  brought  on  a  soup  dish  of  pale  violet  color,  quite  a 
work  of  art,  but  its  contents  was  a  watery  compound  with  an 
artistic  name.  Course  number  two  consisted  of  a  unique 
plate,  light  green  in  color,  with  little  fishes  wriggling  through 
green  waves,  but  bearing  on  it  a  small  insipid  portion  of  a 
genuine  inhabitant  of  the  deep;  and  so  on,  course  followed 
course,  each  on  a  different  colored  plate.  If  the  dinner  was 
intended  for  an  exhibition  of  crockery,  each  one  of  the  seven 
I  had  there  was  a  success,  but,  however  gratifying  to  the  eye 
the  dinners  might  be,  they  were  lamentabli?  failures  so  far  as 
stomach  and  appetite  were  concerned;  but  when  I  came  to 
pay  my  bill  I  found  the  white  kid  gloves  and  the  fancy  china 
again;  they  were  all  in  it,  and  many  more  things  as  well. 
The  bill  was  more  than  a  foot  long,  filled  with  such  items  as 
soap,  sixpence;  one  envelope,  one  penny;  one  sheet  note 
paper,  one  penny;  bath,  two  shillings;  extra  towels  and  soap 
for  same,  sixpence,  and  so  on  through  the  line. 

We  found  the  Grosvenor  another  Gresham.  However,  as 
we  wanted  to  stop  at  a  swell  hotel,  we  concluded — so  long  as 
we  were  there — to  remain ;  but  after  a  few  days  we  found  the 
cuisine  "highly  respectable;"  that  is,  for  dinner  one  could 
get  roast — either  beef  or  mutton.  As  for  vegetables,  we 
were  strictly  limited  to  turnips,  cauliflowers,  cabbage  and 


SOME    NATIVES    I  MET   IN  TAWNT,    SPAIN.— Page   290. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  191 

potatoes,  and,  for  dessert,  the  famous  apple  tart  of  England, 
more  deadly  even  than  our  mince  pie. 

The  proprietor  of  a  certain  popular  restaurant  in  New 
York  has  at  fad  for  hanging  elaborately  got-up  Scripture 
texts — exhc/ftations  mostly — around  the  walls  of  his  restau- 
rant. Interspersed  with  these  are  advertisements  of  his  eat- 
ables— also  exhortations — such  as,  "Try  our  buckwheat 
cakes,  lo  cents;"  "Try  our  doughnuts  and  coffee;"  between 
the  two  exhortations,  a  third  bidding  one  flee  from  the  wrath 
to  come;  but  the  most  fetching  of  all  are  two  companion 
cards.  On  the  one  is  the  legend,  "Try  our  hot  mince  pie;" 
on  the  other  is  displayed  the  apropos  warning,  "Prepare  to 
meet  thy  God." 

So  we  resolved  to  sleep  at  the  Grosvenor,  but  to  avoid  the 
apple  tart.  We  soon  discovered  a  good  restaurant  near  by, 
where  we  dined,  and,  as  I  am  on  the  subject  of  dining,  I  will 
finish  this  chapter  with  a  little  narrative,  the  moral  of  which 
I  will  leave  my  readers  to  find :  We  were  now  settled  down  in 
London,  prepared  to  devote  all  our  attention  to  that  Old 
Lady — The  B.  of  E. — and,  in  accordance  with  a  habit  of  ours, 
we  began  to  look  for  some  safe  place — hotel,  cafe  or  restau- 
rant— where  we  could  meet,  run  in  at  any  time  for  consulta- 
tion, or  to  write  notes.  Three  things  were  requisite — near- 
ness to  the  money  centre  of  the  city,  a  room  where  we  could 
be  secluded  from  people  coming  and  going,  and  a  proprietor 
clever  enough  not  to  be  inquisitive,  with  a  genius  for  minding 
his  own  business.  A  man  who  has  a  genius  for  that  thing 
always  carries  it  in  his  face,  just  as  his  opposite — the  busy- 
body— carries  the  traces  of  his  restless  inquisitiveness  in  the 
face  and  manner. 

That  same  day  we  discovered,  in  a  small  street  leading  off 
Finsbury,  a  shop  with  a  sign  over  the  door  bearing  the 
legend:  "Licensed  to  sell  spirits  and  caterer."  It  had  canned 
and  potted  meats,  along  with  bottles  of  wine,  in  the  window, 
but  was  evidently  fast  going  to  seed.    We  pushed  our  way 


192 


FROM   WAT.L.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


in  and  found  a  bright,  fresh-looking  young  Englishman,  evi- 
dently a  countryman,  but  intelligent  and  civil,  much  like  a 
gamekeeper.    We  knew  at  once  we  had  our  place  and  man. 

After  some  weeks  we  observed,  now  and  then,  a  couple  of 
sharp-looking  customers  hanging  about  the  place. 

We  feared  being  watched,  and  began  to  think  it  time  to 
change,  so  suddenly  ceased  calling  at  mine  host's  snuggery 
and  took  up  new  quarters  in  a  private  house  not  far  away. 
About  two  months  later  I  happened  to  be  near  and  called. 
He  received  me  warmly,  and  told  me  we  had  saved  him  from 
bankruptcy.  He  had  been  a  gamekeeper  on  a  nobleman's  es- 
tate, and  his  wife  had  been  a  housemaid  there.  They  mar- 
ried against  the  wishes  of  their  master,  but  they  had  five 
hundred  pounds,  and,  coming  to  London,  started  business 
on  that.  Custom  was  poor,  and  soon  they  were  at  the  end  of 
their  rope,  when,  happily  for  them,  we  came  along  and  spent 
money  enough  in  his  place  to  set  him  on  his  feet  again. 


BANK  OF  ENGLAND  BULLION  VAULTS. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

WITH  NO  REGRETS,  WITH  NO  TORTURING  REMORSE. 

Although  I  had  the  very  respectable  balance  of  $67,000  at 
the  bank,  I  had  not  as  yet,  since  my  arrival  in  London,  paid 
it  a  visit.  This  was  in  pursuance  of  our  plans.  So  far  I 
had  only  done  business  with  the  supernumeraries,  and  none 
of  the  people  at  the  top  had  ever  even  heard  of  me.  But  we 
determined  that  they  should  not  long  remain  in  ignorance 
of  the  great  American  contractor,  F„  A.  Warren. 

Three  months  had  elapsed  since  our  departure  from  Lon- 
don on  our  piratical  tour  to  the  Spanish  Main.  In  all  nearly 
'five  months  had  elapsed  since  Green  had  introduced  me  to 
the  Old  Lady  whose  impregnable  vaults  we  had  now  at  last 
determined  to  loot.  That  in  itself  was  a  favorable  circum- 
stance, as  it  would  give  me  a  chance  to  flourish  in  a  grandly 
indefinite  way  to  the  eflfect  that  I  had  "for  some  time"  been 
a  customer  of  the  bank,  and  none  of  the  oflEicials  would  prob 
ably  take  the  trouble  to  ascertain  how  very  brief,  in  fact,  my 
acquaintance  had  been. 

I  left  London  by  the  night  mail  from  Victoria  Station  for 
Paris,  the  first  of  many  hurried  trips  I  took  to  the  Continent 
on  the  business  we  had  entered  upon.  Truly,  we  worked 
hard,  spent  money  lavishly,  brought  all  our  power  and  genius 
to  work — for  what?    To  have  the  lightning  fall  on  us. 

Upon  my  arrival  I  drove  at  once  to  the  Hotel  Bristol, 
Place  Vendome,  a  swell  hotel,  where  none  but  the  great  sirs 
o'  the  earth  could  afiford  to  stop. 

aosi 


194  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

Here  I  registered  as  F.  A.  Warren,  London,  and  at  once 
sent  off  the  following  letter: 

P.  M.  Francis,  Esq.,  Manager  Bank  of  England,  London. 

Dear  Sir:  I  am  a  customer  of  the  bank,  therefore  I  take 
the  liberty  of  troubling  you  in  the  hope  to  have  the  benefit 
of  your  advice. 

Will  you  kindly  inform  me  what  good  4  per  cent,  stocks 
are  to  be  had  in  the  market,  also  if  the  bank  will  transact 
the  business  for  me?     I  remain  very  truly  yours, 

F.  A.  WARREN. 

By  return  mail  came  a  letter  wherein  I  was  advised  to  in- 
rest  in  India  4  per  cents  or  London  Gas.  I  wrote  an  imme- 
diate order  to  have  the  bank  purchase  ten  thousand  pounds 
of  India  stock  and  sent  my  check  for  that  amount,  on  his 
own  bank,  payable  to  the  order  of  the  manager.  I  received 
the  stock,  instantly  sold  it,  and  replaced  the  money  to  my 
credit,  and  the  next  day  sent  off  an  order  for  ten  thousand 
pounds  gas  stock,  and  repeated  the  operation  until  I  had 
made  the  impression  I  wanted  to  make  on  the  mind  of  the 
manager,  so  that  when  I  returned  to  London  for  my  decisive 
interview  and  sent  in  my  card  he  would  at  once  recognize 
the  name,  F.  A.  Warren,  as  the  multi-millionaire  American 
who  had  been  sending  him  ten  thousand  pound  checks  from 
Paris. 

All  the  time  of  my  stay  in  France  I  had  nothing  to  do  but 
enjoy  myself,^  and  I  entered  upon  a  systematic  sightseeing 
in  and  around  Paris.  There  are  some  strange  contrasts  in 
that  old  town.  One  day  I  made  one  of  a  coaching  party  to 
Fontainebleau,  twenty-one  miles  from  the  city.  Every  foot 
of  the  road  there  is  classic  ground,  and  I  had  assiduously 
studied  day  by  day  the  history  of  France.  That  Paris  is 
France  is  nearly  a  truth,  and  I  had  in  my  mind  a  tolerably 
clear  view  of  the  history  of  the  country  and  of  the  men  who 
made  its  history.  I  was  right  there  on  the  scene  of  the  his- 
tory-making, and  I  found  an  intensity  of  interest  in  my  ex- 
cursions such  as  I  had  never  experienced  before.     The  driver 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  TVAT.  1^ 

of  the  coach  was  an  Englishman  by  the  name  of  Nunn.  I 
mention  this  here,  as  he  eventually  became  my  servant,  and 
will  appear  again  in  the  narrative. 

To  the  Parisian  hotel  proprietor  and  shopkeeper  the  Amer- 
ican visitor  is  truly  a  providence.  "Mine  host"  looks  to  him 
for  loaves  and  fishes,  and  is  never  deceived.  The  antics  of 
our  rich  countrymen  in  Paris  are  portentous  in  their  amaz- 
ing prodigality,  and  I  fear  we  are  the  laughing  stock  of  the 
shopkeepers  there. 

At  the  Cafe  Riche  and  Tortoni's  I  have  seen  extravagances 
in  ordering  expensive  wines  and  viands  by  my  countrymen 
that  made  me  regret  that  the  fools  who  were  being  served 
were  not  forced  to  toil  for  the  mere  necessaries  of  existence. 
Certainly  they  were  unworthy  stewards  of  the  wealth  heaven 
or  the  other  place  had  bestowed  on  them  by  inheritance.  I 
remember  one  boy  there  throwing  away  in  vice  and  dissipa- 
tion the  fortune  his  father  had  through  years  of  a  long  life 
spent  toilsome  hours  in  accumulating.  I  sat  at  a  table  near 
him  on  several  occasions,  when,  after  his  banquet  was  half 
over,  he  used  to  reward  the  waiter  with  a  five-hundred  franc 
note  ($ioo),  but  the  proprietor  was  ever  close  at  hand  and 
would  instantly  despoil  the  garcon  of  his  prize.  He  was 
companioned  by  a  member  of  the  demi-monde,  who,  when 
arrayed  in  male  attire,  as  she  was  nightly,  would  cut  up 
enough  monkey  tricks  in  one  night  at  the  Valentino  or  Ma- 
bille  to  have  made  the  fortunes  of  all  our  comic  paper  artists 
had  they  been  on  the  spot  to  catch  her  antics  with  a  kodak 
and  then  lay  them  before  an  admiring  public. 

The  fortune  this  boy  had  inherited  was  unfortunately  too 
vast  and  too  well-invested  by  his  overfond  and  madly  fool- 
ish father  for  the  son  to  run  through  it  entirely.  A  very  few 
years  left  him  an  imbecile  in  body  and  mind,  to  become  the 
prey  of  a  parcel  of  sharks  who,  dressing  in  purple  and  fine 
linen  and  faring  sumptuously  every  day,  held  him  in  a  state 
of  abject  slavery  and  fear.     One  day,  aboard  his  own  yacht, 


196  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

off  Naples,  they  married  him  to  a  notorious  woman. 
Under  the  guardianship  of  his  wife  and  her  villain  para- 
mour he  wandered  like  a  spectre  amid  the  scene  of  his  former 
riot. 

For  long  at  Monte  Carlo  he  lingered  like  a  ghost,  and  at 
last  died  in  Florence.  The  American  colony  attended  his 
funeral  in  a  body,  while  his  widow,  dissolved  in  tears,  refused 
to  be  comforted.  Although  many  dark  stories  were  whis- 
pered, the  Americans  there  forgave  her  all,  for  her  grief  and 
sorrow  were  so  overpoweringly  evident  that  it  would  have 
seemed  a  crime  to  doubt  her  tender  love  for  the  departed. 
After  having  the  body  embalmed,  she  embarked  with  her 
dead  love  for  America,  and  to-day  his  ashes  rest  in  that 
mighty  city  of  the  dead,  Greenwood,  under  a  Greek  cross  of 
white  marble,  bearing  the  date  of  birth  and  death.  I  went 
to  see  it  last  Easter  week.  The  grave  was  strewn  with  flow- 
ers, and  the  pedestal  bears  this  inscription: 

"Too  good  for  this  world, 
The  angels  bore  him  to  heavon. 
Leaving  his  heartbroken  wife 
To  mourn  her  unspeakable  loss." 

Unopposed  she  succeeded  to  her  husband's  estate.  It  was 
large  then;  to-day  it  has  grown  to  enormous  proportions. 
She  is  not,  but  easily  might  have  been,  one  of  the  Four  Hun- 
dred. 

At  Saratoga  last  August  I  saw  her  sitting  on  the  balcony 
of  the  United  States  Hotel — fat,  wrinkled_^  vulgar-looking, 
covered  with  diamonds.  Nemesis  appears  to  have  postponed 
her  visit  to  the  lady.  Her  life  from  her  own  standpoint  has 
been  a  tremendous  success.  She  has  been  philosopher 
enough  to  appreciate  what  an  immense  factor  mere  eating 
and  drinking  is  in  the  sum  of  human  enjoyment.  Bom  with 
a  cold  heart,  a  constitution  of  iron,  and  the  digestion  of  an 
ostrich,  happily  for  her  peace  of  mind  she  was  absolutely 
without  imagination. 


"IN    HY 


SHORELESS    SEA."— Page   286. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY. 


199 


To  fill  the  sum  of  human  happiness  (from  her  own  stand* 
point)  she  only  required  one  other  thing,  a  good  bank  ac- 
count, and  that,  she  said,  heaven  had  put  in  her  way,  so  hef 
life  has  been  filled  full  of  joy,  and  of  the  only  sort  she  cared 
for  or  could  appreciate.  In  her  early  years,  when  her 
passions  were  strong,  lover  and  paramour  followed  in  rapid 
succession.  When  her  blood  grew  cold  she  found  her  de- 
light in  the  pleasures  of  the  table,  and  keeping  the  same  cook, 
who  was  an  expert,  for  twenty  years,  and  exercising  freely, 
1894  found  her  at  60  with  a  strong  pulse,  a  perfect  diges- 
tion and  a  keen  enjoyment  of  sport,  racing  in  particular,  and, 
on  the  whole,  enjoying  life  as  well  as  any  woman  in  the  uni- 
verse, with  no  regrets,  no  torturing  remorse,  but  with  a  se- 
rene faith  that  when  done  with  this  world  she — never  having 
done  anything  very  bad  here — ^will  have  a  pretty  good  time 
in  the  world  to  come. 


ENTRANCE  TO  BULLION  VAULTS,  BAN^  OF  ENGLAND, 

23      " 


CHAPTER  XX. 

DETAILS  NECESSARY.  IF  TEDIOUS. 

After  the  events  narrated  in  the  last  chapter,  I  returned  to 
London.     I  arrived  early  in  the  morning,  and,  meeting  my 
companions,  we  had  a  long  and  anxious  talk  over  my  near- 
approaching  and  all-important  interview  with  that  great  Sir 
of  the  London  world,  the  manager  of  the  Bank  of  England. 
Happy  for  us  if  in  that  interview  the  manager  had  asked  for 
the  customary  references,  or  had  used  ordinary  business  pre- 
caution and  investigated  me,  or,  indeed,  had  acted  as  any  ordi- 
nary business  man  would  have  done  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances.   Our  own  conclusions  were  that  the  fact  that  I  was 
already  a  depositor,  together  with  the  impression  made  by 
the  letters  and  my    £10,000    checks,  would    put  the  thing 
through.       Yet  we,  of  course,  felt  that  a  thousand  things 
could  arise  to  block  our  way  efTectually.     A  look,  a  word 
too  much,  a  shadow,  or  a  smile  in  my  face  might  ruin  all; 
but  still,  after  providing  so  far  as  possible  for  every  contin- 
gency, after  planning  what  was  to  be  said  or  left  unsaid  at 
the  interview,  after  my  companions  filling  me  full  of  advice, 
we  felt  after  all  that  everything  must  be  left  to  my  discretion, 
to  say  and  to  act  as  I  thought  best  under  the  circumstances. 

This  council  of  war  was  held  in  my  room  in  the  Grosvenor. 
I  had  arrived  from  Paris  at  6  o'clock.  Mac  and  I  breakfasted 
together  at  8.  George  joined  us  at  9,  and  we  talked  until 
10,  then  we  set  out  together  for  the  bank.  Arriving  there, 
they  reniained  outside,  watching  for  my  reappearance.  En- 
(200) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  201 

tering  the  bank,  I  sent  in  my  card  (F.  A.  Warren)  by  a  liveried 
flunkey,  and  was  immediately  ushered  into  the  manager's 
parlor.  He  has  long  since  gone  over  to  the  majority,  so 
here  I  v^ill  not  so  much  as  name  or  describe  him.  Sufficient 
to  say,  that  as  soon  as  I  set  eyes  upon  him  I  thought  that  we 
would  have  no  particular  difficulty  in  carrying  out  our  plans, 
save  only  so  far  as  details  went. 

The  manager,  who  had  been  told  that  I  was  a  railroad  con- 
tractor, expressed  himself  highly  gratified  to  have  me  do  my 
business  through  the  bank,  and  said  they  would  do  all  in 
their  power  to  accommodate  me.  I  told  him  that,  of  course, 
I  was  financing  large  sums,  and  would  require  more  or  less 
discounts  before  the  year  was  out  Then  I  came  away,  and 
meeting  my  two  friends  outside  of  the  bank,  in  answer  to 
their  eager  inquiries  as  to  what  had  transpired,  I  told  them 
that,  so  far  as  the  bank  officials  were  concerned,  our  way  to 
the  vaults  of  the  bank  was  wide  open. 

So  ended  the  last  scene  of  Act  I. 

The  next  day  I  went  to  the  Continental  Bank,  in  Lombard 
street,  and  bought  sight  exchange  on  Paris  for  200,000  francs, 
paying  for  it  by  a  check  on  the  Bank  of  England,  I  was 
given  a  note  of  identification  to  the  Paris  agent  of  the  bank. 

That  night  I  left  Victoria  Station  for  Paris.  At  10  the  next 
morning  I  had  my  money,  and,  going  to  the  Place  de  la 
Bourse,  near  the  Exchange,  I  commissioned  a  broker,  who 
was  a  member  of  the  Exchange,  to  purchase  bills  on  London 
for  i8,ooo.  I  cautioned  him  to  buy  bills  drawTi  only  on  v.  ell- 
known  banking  houses.  About  3  o'clock  he  had  the  bills 
ready.  I  paid  him  the  amount,  along  with  his  commission, 
and,  examining  the  paper,  found  that  he  had  purchased  for 
me  about  what  I  wanted. 

I  will  explain,  for  the  benefit  of  any  reader  not  conversant 
with  financial  transactions,  that  if  John  Russell,  cotton  broker 
in  Savannah,  ships  a  thousand  bales  of  cotton  to  a  firm  in 
Manchester,  England,  the  firm  in  ]\Ianchester  authorizes  him 


202  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

to  draw  a  bill  of  exchange  on  their  fimi,  payable  at  some 
London  bank  at  three  or  six  months'  time,  for  the  value  of 
the  cotton.     We  will  say  the  price  is  i  10,000.     Russell  draws 
ten  bills  for  £1,000  each,  say  payable  at  the  Union  Bank  of 
London.     He  gives  these  bills  to  a  money  broker  in  Savan- 
nah, who  sells  them  on  the  Exchange  and  gets  for  them  what- 
ever the  rate  of  exchange  may  then  be  on  London.      The 
president  of  the  Georgia  Central  Railroad  may  liave  ordered 
a  thousand  tons  of  steel  rail  in  England  for  his  road,  and  to 
pay  for  them  he  orders  a  broker  to  buy  for  him  bills  on  Lon- 
don to  the  amount  of  the  cost  of  the  rails.      He  purchases 
the  Russell  bills,  and  these  bills  of  exchange  he  sends  in  pay- 
ment to  the  steel  rail  manufacturers  in  England,  so,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  president  of  the  Georgia  Central  pays  Russell 
for  his  thousand  bales  of  cotton,  but  has  the  bills  of  ex- 
change.      So,  in  place  of  iio,ooo  in  gold  being  freighted 
twice  across  the  ocean,  the  ten  pieces  of  paper  cross  only 
once.    These  ten  bills  for  i  1,000  each,  drawn  on  the  Union 
Bank  of'  London  at  six  months,  in  due  time  are  presented, 
duly  accepted  and  paid  at  maturity  by  the  bank. 

Instead  of  commercial  notes  or  bills  they  are  now  known 
as  acceptances,  and  are  just  as  good  as  a  bank  note.  There- 
fore, if  the  owner — no  matter  who  it  is — ^wants  the  money  at 
once,  any  bank  will  discount  all  or  either  for  the  face  value 
less  the  interest.  In  every  commercial  centre  of  the  world 
these  accepted  bills  are  being  discounted  by  banks  and  mon- 
eyed corporations  for  enormous  sums,  but  by  no  bank  in  the 
world  in  such  huge  amounts  as  by  the  Bank  of  England. 
Their  daily  discounts  run  into  the  millions. 

What  our  plan  was  will  be  made  clear  later. 

The  evening  of  the  day  of  my  arrival  in  Paris  found  me  on 
the  express  speeding  to  Paris.  Two  hours  past  midnight  I 
was  on  the  miserable  little  passenger  steamer  that  plies  across 
the  chopping  channel,  and  which  I  suppose  has  seen  more 
of  human  misery  than  all  the  fleets  that  sail  the  Atlantic,  for 


(203) 


204  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

the  channel  has  stronger  counter  currents,  and  wind,  tide 
and  currents  seem  ever  to  be  in  violent  opposition,  and  here 

"E'er  across  the  main  doth  float 

A  sad  and  solemn  swell, 
The  wild,  fantastic,  fitful  note 

Of  Triton's  breathing  shell." 

And  Triton  (old  Neptune's  t'other  name)  makes  all  passers 
over  this  part  of  his  realm  pay  ample  tribute  for  "his  fan- 
tastic, fitful  notes." 

The  Paris  night  express  lands  one  at  early  dawn  in  Lon- 
don, nearly  always  weak  on  the  legs,  however.  I  break- 
fasted with  Mac,  and  after  that  took  the  bills  to  the  various 
banks  on  which  they  were  drawn,  and  leaving  them  for  theii 
acceptance,  I  called  again  the  next  day  and  received  them 
back,  bearing  across  the  face,  the  magic  words : 

"London,  Aug.  14,  1872. 
"Accepted  for  the    Union  Bank  of  London. 

"E.    Barclay,  Manager. 
**J.  Wayland,  Assistant  Manager." 

Then  I  hurried  to  the  Grosvenor,  and  we  all  looked  at 
them  with  curiosity,  for  it  was  upon  the  imitation  of  just  such 
acceptances  that  our  whole  plan  was  based.  I  intended  to 
present  this  and  many  more  batches  of  genuine  bills  for  dis- 
count at  the  bank  until  the  officials  should  become  accus- 
tomed to  discounting  for  me.  In  the  mean  time,  as  fast  as 
I  got  genuine  acceptances  and  bills,  we  kept  on  making 
imitations  of  them  for  future  use,  only  leaving  out  the  date 
until  such  time  as  we  should  be  ready  to  put  them  in  for  dis- 
count. Of  course,  the  success  or  failure  of  our  whole  plan 
turned  upon  this  point.  Is  it  the  custom  of  the  Bank  of 
England  (in  1873)  to  send  acceptances  offered  for  discount 
to  the  acceptors  for  verification  of  signatures? 

This  is  always  done  in  America,  and  had  this  very  requis- 
ite precaution  been  used  by  the  Bank  of  England  our  plan 


I 

VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  205 

would  have  been  fruitless  and  we  should  have  been  a  few 
thousands  out  of  pocket;  but,  if  not,  then  we  could  throw 
into  the  hopper  enough  acceptances  of  home  manufacture 
so  that  through  the  red  tape  routine  of  the  bank  millions  of 
sovereigns  would  be  ground  out  into  our  pockets. 

Taking  my  deposit  book  and  the  genuine  bills,  I  went  to 
the  bank  and  left  the  bills  for  discount.  This  was  at  once 
done  and  the  amount  placed  to  my  credit.  I  drew  £10,000, 
and  that  night  found  me  once  more  one  of  500  unfortu- 
nates paymg  tribute  to  Neptune.  This  time  I  landed  at  Os- 
tend  and  took  the  train  for  Amsterdam.  There  I  repeated 
the  Paris  operation,  securing  iio,ooo  in  genuine  bills.  I 
leturned  to  London,  and  as  before  left  them  for  acceptance. 
Then  my  companion  manufactured  a  lot  of  imitations  and 
put  them  away  with  those  previously  manufactured,  to  be 
all  ready  when  the  day  came  to  use  them.  The  genuine  bills 
were  then  discounted.  Again  and  again  I  went  to  the  Con- 
tinent, repeating  the  operation,  until  at  last  my  credit  at  the 
bank  was  firm  as  a  rock,  and  we  were  ready  to  reap  our  har- 
vest. But  these  operations,  simple  as  they  seem,  lasted  over 
a  period  of  six  months,  and  had  been  made  at  heavy  cost 
Our  ordinary  living  expenses  were  not  less  than  $25  a  day 
for  the  three,  while  our  extraordinary  expenses  were  enor- 
mous. I  probably  traveled  10,000  miles  over  the  Continent 
in  my  bill-buying  expeditions  to  Paris,  Amsterdam,  Frank- 
fort and  Vienna. 

Another  source  of  expense  was  the  commissions  paid  to 
brokers  for  buying  bills  on  the  exchange.  Then  we  had 
many  expenses  purely  personal,  and,  enormous  as  it  seems, 
the  sum  total  from  the  day  of  our  return  from  Brazil  until 
the  day  of  our  operations  against  the  bank  began  to  bring 
us  in  cash  were  quite  $500  a  week,  so  that  we  had  invested 
$15,000  in  preparation,  not  to  speak  of  our  hard  work — and 
it  was  hard  work,  and  trying,  too,  for  there  were.a  multitude 
of  details  to  be  worked  out 


CHAPTER    XXI.     • 

THE    EGYPTIANS    PASS    OVER    THE  RED    SEA    AND    THE 
HEBREWS  ARE  DROWNED  THEREIN. 

All  the  details  of  events  leading  through  the  long  Summer 
and  Autumn  days  of  1872  up  to  the  hour  when  the  golden 
shower  began  to  fall  on  us  arc  of  intense,  almost  dramatic, 
interest.  I  will  not,  however,  lengthen  the  narrative  by  giv- 
ing here  any  further  account  of  them,  but  will  merely  relate 
the  story  of  the  last  five  days  before  the  actual  presentation 
of  our  home-brewed  acceptances. 

The  bank  had  been  discounting  for  weeks  comparatively 
large  sums  for  me.  Many  thousand  pounds  of  the  genuine 
article  discounted  had  matured  and  been  paid,  and  more 
thousands  were  still  in  the  vaults,  awaiting  maturity,  and 
would  fall  due,  while  our  home-manufactured  bills  would  be 
laid  away  in  the  vaults,  there  to  remain  for  four  or  five 
months  until  due.  Of  course  a  full  month  or  t^vo  months 
before  that  we  could  pack  our  baggage  and  be  on  the  other 
side  of  the  world;  I  on  some  hacienda  in  Mexico,  George 
and  Mac  at  some  fashionable  resort  in  Florida.  They 
soon  to  knock  at  the  gates  of  the  Four  Hundred,  I  to  spend 
a  year  or  two  in  Mexico,  playing  "grand  senor,"  until,  under 
the  skillful  management  of  our  friends,  Irving,  Stanley  and 
White,  at  Police  Headquarters  in  New  York,  the  affair  had 
blown  over,  and  they  invited  me  to  return. 

But,  as  the  sequel  will  show,  the  reality  took  on  a  diflFerent 
complexion  from  the  ideal. 
(206) 


BOW  STREET  POLICE  STATION, 


PROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE,  207 

My  credit  at  the  bank  was  solid  as  a  rock.  That  means  I 
had  gone  through  the  red-tape  routine.  It  only  behooved 
us  to  use  circumspection  enough  to  avoid  making  mistakes 
in  our  papers,  and  fortune  was  ours.  I  knew  everything 
was  all  right,  but  George,  being  a  thorough  business  man 
himself,  could  not  comprehend  that  it  could  be  quite  right, 
and  he  insisted  upon  one  supreme  test  Any  single  bill  of 
exchange  is  seldom  drawn  for  more  than  £1,000,  rarely 
for  £2,000,  and  one  of  £6,000  is  almost  unheard  of.  If  a 
party  in  Bombay  wanted  exchange  on  London  for  £100,000, 
his  broker  wouldl  probably  furnish  him  with  one  hundred 
bills  for  £1,000  each.  But  George  had  made  up  his  mind 
that  as  a  test,  and  to  make  an  impression  upon  the  bank  man- 
ager, I  should  go  to  Paris  and  get  a  bill  on  London  from 
Rothschilds  drawn  to  the  order  of  F.  A.  Warren  direct. 
Could  this  be  done  it  would,  of  course,  make  it  appear  that  I 
had  intimate  relations  with  the  Rothschilds,  and  as  a  minor 
consideration  we  could  use  the  Rohschild  acceptance — a 
pretty  nervy  thing  to  do,  as  Sir  Anthony  de  Rothschild,  the 
head  of  the  London  house,  whose  name  we  proposed  to 
offer,  was  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  England,  and  would  have 
to  pass  his  own  paper  for  discount — that  is,  paper  bearing 
his  name,  manufactured  by  ourselves. 

We  tried  to  talk  George  out  of  this_  notion,  which  Mac 
and  I  regarded  as  a  freak,  unnecessary  in  the  first  place,  and 
impossible  anyhow.  But  he  was  persistent,  and  I  had  to 
start  out  and  try.  I  expected  an  expense  of  $1,000  and  a  de- 
lay of  two  weeks,  but  fortune  or  the  devil  favored  us.  So, 
purchasing  at  the  exchange  broker's  in  London  200,000 
francs  in  French  paper  money,  once  more  I  left  Victoria 
Station  for  Paris.  Once  more,  an  unwilling  victim,  I  heard 
the  "wild,  fantastic,  fitful  note  of  Triton's  breathing  shell." 
At  Calais  I  took  my  place  in  what  the  French  call  a  coupe; 
that  is,  the  end  compartment  on  a  car,  which,  by  paying  ten 
francs    extra,  you    can    occupy    alone.      It    is  unlike  the 


208  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

other  compartments  in  that  there  are  no  arms  dividing  it 
into  seats;  so  one  can  lie  full  length  on  the  cushion. 

Before  this  night  I  speak  of  I  had  cherished  a  theory  as 
to  what  I  should  do  in  the  event  of  an  accident  happening 
to  any  train  whereon  I  was  a  passenger.  In  such  a  case  I 
proposed  to  catch  on  to  some  object  and  hold  on,  leaving 
my  body  and  limbs  to  swing  freely.  My  theory  ever  since 
that  night  has  been  that  I  will  go  just  wherever  the  breaking 
timbers  and  flying  furniture  send  me.  I  had  fallen  into  a 
sound  sleep  before  the  train  started,  and  was  aroused  from 
it  to  find  myself  hurled  about  the  compartment  much  as  a 
stout  boy  would  shake  a  mouse  in  a  cage,  and  quite  as  help- 
less. 

Our  train  was  ofif  the  track.  My  carriage  was  near  the  en- 
gine, and  the  momentum  of  the  long  train  forced  the  car  in 
the  rear  of  mine  up  on  end,  and  it  appeared  as  if  it  would 
fall  over  and  crush  me.  I  thought  my  hour  had  come,  and 
I  cried  out,  "At  last!"  There  was  no  fear  or  terror  in  it, 
but  merely  the  thought  that  after  many  months  of  almost 
incessant  travel,  and  necessarily  of  peril,  "at  last"  my  fate 
had  come.  It  had  not.  How  good  heaven  would  have  been 
if  it  had  sent  me  to  my  doom  then  and  there! 

The  accident  had  occurred  at  Marquise,  a  small  town 
sixteen  miles  from  Calais  and  four  from  Boulogne,  the  first 
stopping  place  of  the  express.  It  was  a  very  long  train, 
but  the  carriages  were  all  empty  except  two.  A  heavy  ex- 
cursion train  had  left  Paris,  and  the  cars  were  going  back 
empty.  What  lessened  the  number  of  passengers  was  the 
fact  that  it  was  Sunday  night.  The  English  do  not  travel  on 
Sundays  as  a  rule.  So,  fortunately,  a  great  loss  of  life  was 
prevented.  However,  two  were  killed  and  half  of  the  re- 
maining passengers  injured.  My  own  injuries  were  slight 
and  consisted  of  trifling  cuts  on  the  face  and  hands  from  fly- 
ing glass.  But,  far  worse  than  that,  I  had  received  a  nerv- 
ous shock,  which  took  some  weeks  to  wear  ofif,  and  during 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  209 

the  rest  of  my  journey  to  Paris  and  return  to  London  I  was 
as  nervous  as  a  timid  woman.  I  stayed  at  Marquise  until 
noon,  when  the  express  passing  at  that  hour  made  a  special 
stop  to  pick  me  up. 

In  our  glorious  and  free  country  the  killing  or  mangling 
of  a  few  persons  more  or  less  is  of  no  particular  concern  to 
any  one  beyond  the  friends  of  the  victims,  least  of  all  to  the 
railway  magnate  or  to  his  servant.  But  in  France  an  acci- 
dent which  results  even  in  the  wounding  of  a  passenger  is 
a  very  serious  matter  to  the  road  where  it  occurs  and  to  its 
officials.  They  always  hasten  to  take  the  fullest  responsi- 
bility, and  if  attention  or  the  more  solid  matter — cash — can 
comfort  the  sufferer,  he  will  have  no  occasion  to  mourn  long. 
If  one  life  be  lost — even  a  servant  of  the  road — a  strict  ju- 
dicial inquiry  takes  place  upon  the  scene  of  the  accident,  by 
a  high  official  of  the  State,  advised  by  experts,  not  as  in  this 
country,  by  some  drunken  country  loafer  or  ward  heeler, 
who,  all  ignorant  of  the  law,  has  been  "elected"  county  cor- 
oner, and  one  who  is  more  anxious  to  procure  free  passes 
on  the  road  than  he  is  concerned  for  the  victim  murdered 
by  the  neglect  or  parsimony  of  inefficient  railway  officials. 

The  road  from  Paris  to  Calais  is  known  as  the  Chemin 
de  Fer  du  Nord,  and  Baron  Alphonse  de  Rothschild,  head 
of  the  Paris  Rothschilds,  is  the  president  of  the  road.  This 
fact  occurred  to  me  within  a  few  minutes  of  the  accident,  and 
I  thought  I  might  make  use  of  the  affair  as  a  means  to  help 
me  in  my  business  at  Paris.  I  arrived  about  dark,  went  to  the 
Grand  Hotel,  and  to  bed  at  once.  My  nerves  were  so  shaken 
that  I  was  timid,  even  when  in  the  elevator,  but  I  slept  well 
and  awoke  at  daylight  feeling  better. 

At  lo  o'clock,  limping  badly  and  leaning  on  a  cane,  I  en- 
tered a  carriage  and  drove  to  the  Maison  Rothschild,  Rue 
Laiitte.  The  banking  house  might  well  be  called  a  palace. 
The  various  offices  open  upon  a  courtyard,  while  the  whole 
architecture  of  the  building  would  suggest  the  residence  of 


210  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

an  officer  of  State  or  nobleman  rather  than  a  building  de- 
voted to  finance.  But  the  currents  which  centre  there  are 
potent  and  far-reaching,  and  come  richly  laden  with  tribute 
from  the  four  quarters  of  the  world.  To  win  that  tribute 
slaves  toil,  and,  toiling,  die,  in  Brazilian  diamond  mines,  and 
thousands  of  coolies,  entrapped  by  agents  in  China  and  In- 
dia, enter  into  perfidious  contracts  which  commit  them  to 
hopeless  slavery  and  send  them  to  wear  out  their  lives  in 
despairing  toil  amid  the  pungent  and  murderous  ammonia- 
cal  fumes  of  the  guano  islands  of  Chili  and  Peru.  The 
Rothschilds,  too,  own  the  Almaden  quicksilver  mine  and 
others. 

They  control  the  quicksilver  industries  of  the  world,  and 
to  swell  their  abnormal  hoard,  portentous  in  its  vastness, 
other  poor  wretches,  condemned  under  form  of  law,  are 
doomed  to  days  of  wearing  toil,  and,  their  bones  rotting  from 
quicksilver  absorption,  to  nights  of  racking  pains.  So,  too, 
far  Siberia  contributes  its  quota  of  human  misery  that  the 
golden  stream  of  interest  on  century-old  loans  may  have  no 
interruption,  but  pour  on  unceasingly  into  the  vaults  of  the 
Rothschilds. 

Alighting  from  the  carriage  and  mounting  the  steps  with 
difficulty,  I  entered  the  English  Department,  and,  seating 
myself,  awaited  the  manager's  presence.  He  came,  and  ex- 
pressing great  concern  when  he  learned  I  was  a  victim  of 
the  Marquise  disaster,  asked  what  he  could  do  for  me.  I 
replied  I  wanted  to  see  the  Baron.  He  disappeared  into  a 
range  of  offices,  and  no  doubt  told  Baron  Alphonse  I  was 
some  important  personage,  doubly  important  because  in- 
jured on  his  road. 

Soon  a  slight,  sallow  man  of  about  43  appeared,  wearing 
an  old-fashioned  stovepipe  hat  and  a  shabby  suit  of  snuff- 
colored  garments.  The  look  of  the  attendants  testified  that 
the  deity  was  before  me.  Taking  off  his  antiquated  chapeau 
he  began  a  profuse  apology  for  the  accident,  explaining 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  211 

that  accidents  were  most  unusual  events  in  France;  that  he 
would  order  his  own  physician  to  attend  me,  that  I  should 
have  every  attention  without  the  slightest  charge  or  expense 
to  myself,  etc.,  etc.,  and  ended  by  saying  I  was  to  command 
him  if  he  could  serve  me.  In  return  I  told  him  since  he  was 
so  distressed  over  the  accident  and  my  plight,  I  should  say  no 
more  about  either,  but  as  I  was  too  badly  shaken  to  complete 
the  business  on  which  I  had  come  to  Paris  I  should  request 
him  to  instruct  his  subordinates  to  aid  me  in  transmitting 
the  funds  I  had  brought  from  London  back  again.  He 
called  the  manager  and  told  him  to  accommodate  me  in  any- 
thing, then  shaking  hands  and  with  many  expressions  of  re- 
gret, he  withdrew. 

I  told  the  manager  I  wanted  a  three  months'  bill  on  Lon- 
don for  £6,000.  He  informed  me  that  the  house  of  Roth- 
schild was  not  issuing  time  bills,  but  since  the  Baron's  order 
suspended  the  rule  in  my  case,  he  would  procure  me  six  bills 
for  £  1,000  each.  These  really  were  just  as  good  for  our 
purpose  as  one  bill  for  £6,000,  but  I  had  come  to  Paris  on 
George's  demand  that  I  should  procure  one  bill  for  this  un- 
usual amount,  so  perforce  I  had  to  say  "No,"  that  I  wanted 
one  bill  only. 

The  manager  began  to  remonstrate,  saying  it  was  unusual, 
and  wanted  to  explain  the  nature  of  a  bill  of  exchange,  but 
I  cut  him  short,  bidding  him  recall  the  Baron  at  once.  The 
thought  of  recalling  that  Jupiter  to  repeat  an  order  was 
enough  to  send  a  thrill  through  the  entire  staflf,  and  he  in- 
stantly said :  "Oh,  sir,  if  you  wish  the  £6,000  in  one  bill,  you 
shall  have  it,  but  it  will  involve  some  delay."  So  paying 
him  150,000  francs  on  account,  I  ordered  the  bill  sent  to  me 
at  2  o'clock  precisely  at  the  Grand  Hotel,  and  drove  ofif  to 
the  Louvre,  where  I  spent  two  hours  in  the  picture  galleries. 
At  2  o'clock  I  was  at  the  hotel,  and  an  attendant  came  with 
the  bill,  and,  pointing  to  a  signature  on  it,  informed  me  it 
was  that  of  a  Cabinet  Minister,  equivalent  to  our  Secretary 


212  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

of  the  Treasury,  certifying  that  the  tax  due  the  government 
on  the  bill  was  paid.  He  explained  the  revenue  stamp  re- 
quired upon  a  bill  of  exchange  was  on-eighth  of  i  per  cent 
of  the  face  of  the  bill,  making  the  tax  on  my  single  bill  187 
francs,  or  about  $37.  All  bills  are  stamped  in  a  registering 
machine,  which  presses  the  stamp  into  the  paper;  but  there 
were  no  registering  machines  for  a  stamp  of  so  high  a  de- 
nomination as  187  francs  either  in  the  branch  revenue  ofi&ce 
in  the  Rothschild  bank  or  at  the  Treasury,  so  the  Baron  had 
taken  the  bill  to  the  Treasury  himself  and  got  the  Cabinet 
Minister  to  put  his  autograph  on  it — ^probably  the  first  and 
only  time  in  history  that  such  a  thing  had  been  done.  I 
wanted  very  much  indeed  to  keep  that  bill  as  a  curiosity,  but 
then  the  necessity  of  the  time  was  on  me,  and  I  was  not  then 
a  collector  of  curios. 

I  had  been  only  eighteen  hours  in  Paris,  and  by  a  happy 
fluke  the  business  was  done  over  which  I  had  counted  upon 
spending  a  good  part  of  the  month. 

When  I  left  London  I  was  all  at  sea  as  to  how  I  should 
carry  out  the  objects  of  my  visit  to  Paris.  One  plan  was  to 
procure  an  interview  by  strategy  with  the  Baron  Alphonse 
and  try  to  cajole  him,  but  without  reference,  and  devoid  of 
all  business  relations  or  acquaintance  in  Paris,  it  was  at  best 
a  questionable  expedient,  and  I  probably  would  have  had  a 
take-down.  But  the  accident  at  Alarquise  came  and 
smoothed  the  apparently  insuperable  difficulties  in  my  way. 
But  I  have  found  that  something  unusual  does  come  to  help 
a  man  on  his  way  to  the  devil  when  he  is  anxious  to  get 
there,  which  he  is  pretty  sure  to  do,  if  he  is  only  diligent  and 
careful  to  improve  his  opportunities. 

What  diligence  and  strict  attention  to  business  do  men 
exhibit  when  they  start  out  to  wreck  their  own  lives  and 
break  the  hearts  of  those  near  to  them!  In  a  play  by  a  mod- 
ern writer,  one  scene  presents  Satan  flying  at  midnight  over 
one  of  our  cities,  while  the  drunken  songs  and  joyous  shouts 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY. 


213 


of  some  gilded  revelers  rise  in  the  night.  The  merry  songs 
and  laughter  are  music  to  the  ears  of  Lucifer.  He  pauses 
in  his  flight  to  listen,  and  as  the  songs  and  shouts  increase 
in  volume  he  looks  down  on  the  revelers  and  with  a  bitter 
sneer  soliloquizes  thus  of  them: 

"Ye  are  my  bondsmen  and  my  thralls, 
Your  lives  I  fill  with  bitter  pain." 

And  that  sums  it  up  pretty  well ;  but  we  must  look  straight 
away  from  the  entrance  of  the  Primrose  Way  to  the  exit. 

Well,  I  had  successfully  played  my  trump  card  on  the 
Rothschilds,  and,  not  seeing  the  end,  thought  I  had  won, 
and  cleverly  won;  so  before  sitting  down  to  dinner  I  went 
to  the  telegraph  office  and  telegraphed  to  my  partners: 


"The  Egyptians  all  passed  over  the  Red  Sea. 
Hebrews  are  drowned  therein." 


But  the 


Thinking  this  rather  witty,  I  went  to  dinner  well  satis- 
fied. An  hour  past  midnight  the  moon  looked  from  behind 
a  cloud  and  saw  me,  one  of  many  miserables,  leaning  over 
the  bulwark  of  that  wretched  Dover  steamer,  again  paying 
tribute  to  Neptune. 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

"ACCEPTED.  LIONEL,  ROTHSCHILD." 

When  George  and  Mac  received  my  telegram  they,  know- 
ing the  difficulties  of  my  mission,  deemed  it  incredible  that  I 
had  succeeded  within  a  day,  so  when  my  telegram  came  they 
thought  I  was  attempting  some  jest.  Upon  my  arrival  in 
London,  walking  into  Mac's  room — he  being  still  in  bed — 
I  announced  that  I  had  in  my  pocket  Rothschild's  bill  for 
£6,000,  drawn  on  the  London  house.  He  flatly  refused  to 
believe  m.e,  but  when  he,  and  later  George,  saw  the  bill,  they 
were  forced  to  believe.  I  at  once  took  it  down  to  St.  Swith- 
in's  lane,  and,  leaving  it  for  acceptance,  called  the  next  day, 
when  I  found  scrawled  across  it  in  thin,  pale  ink  the  mystic 
words  "Accepted.     Lionel  Rothschild." 

The  bill  itself  was  drawn  on  cheap,  blue  paper,  on  the 
same  form  as  the  blank  bills  to  be  had  at  the  Paris  station- 
ers', where  I  had  bought  some.  From  Rothschilds'  I  went 
direct  to  the  hotel  where  we  had  our  rendezvous,  and  the  ac- 
ceptance was  so  simple  and  easy  that  Mac  had  it  copied  on 
another  bill  in  ten  minutes.  The  business  methods  of  the 
bank  were  so  loose  that  there  was  no  necessity  for  imitating 
signatures,  but  as  a  precaution  this  was  done  to  some  extent. 
I  then  proceeded  to  the  Bank  of  England  for  my  last  per- 
sonal interview  with  the  manager.  I  must  halt  here  for  a 
brief  space  in  the  narrative,  in  order  to  enlighten  my  reader 
upon  some  new  developments,  also  to  introduce  the  new 
member  we  at  this  time  brought  into  our  firm. 
(214) 


,  > 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  217 

There  was  a  friend,  a  very  old  friend,  of  mine  residing  in 
Hartford,  Edwin  Noyes  by  name.  We  had  known  each 
other  from  our  schoolboy  days,  and  there  was  a  warm  friend- 
ship between  us.  Our  paths  in  life  had  been  wide  apart, 
but  we  maintained  a  frequent  correspondence  and  often  met 
He  knew  nothing  of  my  primrose  life,  but  supposed,  of 
course,  from  the  style  of  my  living  that  I  was  the  possessor 
of  a  handsome  income  from  my  business,  which  lay,  as  he 
imagined,  in  that  mysterious  precinct  known  as  "The  Street," 
which,  of  course,  meant  Wall  street,  and  that  my  business  was 
speculating  in  stocks. 

He  was  a  trifle  older  than  myself,  of  a  steady,  reserved 
nature,  and  a  discreet  and  safe  friend.  This  was  the  new 
member  of  our  firm.  How  he  came  to  be  so  I  must  explain. 
Up  to  this  time,  as  the  reader  will  have  noticed,  I  was  the 
only  one  of  the  party  known  at  the  bank,  and,  of  course,  was 
the  only  one  who  seemed  to  be  taking  any  risk.  Even  in 
the  event  of  discovery  it  would  apparently  be  necessary  for 
me  only  to  take  flight.  George  and  Mac,  not  being  known 
in  connection  with  the  fraud,  could  remain  in  London  until 
such  time  as  they  chose  to  go  home.  To  make  matters  ab- 
solutely safe  for  me  as  well  we  got  up  this  scheme. 

I  told  the  manager  of  the  bank  that  I  had  bought  an  im- 
mense plant  and  shops  in  Birmingham  to  manufacture  rail- 
way material,  and  that  I  should  be  there  superintending  the 
work  a  good  deal;  therefore  I  might  occasionally  send  any 
bills  I  had  for  discount  from  there  by  mail.  I  had  sent  two 
or  three  lots  of  the  genuine  bills  in  that  way.  If  I  could  send 
the  imitation  bills  the  same  way,  Mac  and  George  could 
carry  on  the  business  through  the  mail  in  my  name  and  I 
could  be  at  the  other  side  of  the  world  while  the  actual  oper- 
ation was  going  on,  so  that,  far  from  my  ever  being  proved 
guilty,  there  would  be  proof  of  my  innocence,  for  how  could 
I  be  guilty  of  a  crime  committed  in  England  at  the  verj- 
time  I  was  on  a  pleasure  jaunt  in  the  West  Indies  and  Alex- 
is 


218  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

ico?  Thus  it  was  arranged.  Mac  and  George  could  do 
everything  and  remain  in  the  background  themselves,  pro- 
vided we  had  a  safe  man  whom  I  could  introduce  at  the 
bank  as  my  clerk  or  messenger,  also  to  represent  me  in  dif- 
ferent places  where  I  could  introduce  him  as  my  messenger 
before  I  left  England. 

The  reader  will  see  the  extreme  artfulness  of  the  plot,  but 
in  all  wrongdoing  there  is  sooner  or  later  a  slip  up.  Be  the 
plot  ever  so  artful,  or  however  safe  the  wrongdoing  may  ap- 
pear, the  unforeseen  something  will  happen. 

Of  course,  Mac  and  George  not  being  known  at  the  bank 
need  not  care,  but  it  might  easily  be  serious  for  me. 

When  the  explosion  came,  fifty  people  in  and  about  the 
bank  would  remember  my  face.  But  if  I  brought  Noyes 
on  the  scene  to  act  as  my  clerk  I  need  only  introduce  him 
to  the  paying  teller  of  the  bank,  and  to  Jay  Cooke  &  Co., 
the  American  banking  house,  where  I  proposed  to  buy 
enormous  quantities  of  United  States  bonds,  paying  for 
them  in  checks  on  the  Bank  of  England.  Of  course,  the 
bonds  being  all  bearer  bonds,  would,  with  our  knowledge 
of  finance,  be  as  good  as  so  much  cash. 

So,  knowing  Noyes,  if  he  would  embark  in  the  enter- 
prise, had  plenty  of  nerve  and  could  never  be  bribed  or 
bought  into  betraying  us  should  he  by  any  failure  of  our 
plans  happen  to  be  arrested,  we  determined  to  send  for  him. 
A  short  time  before  we  arrived  at  this  conclusion  I  had  sent 
this  precautionary  letter  to  him: 

"Grosvenor  Hotel, 
"London,  Nov.  8,  1872. 
"My  Dear  Noyes:  You  will  be  surprised  to  hear  from  me 
from  London,  but  the  fact  is  I  have  been  here  with  George 
and  a  friend  of  ours  for  a  year,  and  have  made  a  lot  of  money 
from  several  speculations  we  have  embarked  in.  In  fact, 
we  have  been  so  successful  that  we  have  detennined  to  make 
you  a  present  of  a  thousand  dollars,  which  find  inclosed. 
Please  accept  the  same  with  our  best  wishes. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  219 

"We  may  be  able  to  give  you  a  chance  to  make  a  few 
thousands,  if  you  would  care  to  venture  across  the  ocean. 
Perhaps  we  can  make  use  of  you.  If  so,  I  will  send  you  a 
cable.  If  I  do,  come  any  way,  as  we  will  pay  all  your  ex- 
penses should  you  determine  not  to  go  in'  with  us  on  the 
deal.  Be  cautious  and  preserve  absolute  secrecy  when  you 
leave  home  as  to  your  destination.  Will  explain  the  reason 
for  this  when  we  meet.  Keep  your  weather  eye  open  for  the 
cable.     It  may  come  any  hour  after  you  have  this. 

"Hoping  you  are  quite  well,  I  remain,"  etc.,  etc. 

A  few  days  later  we  sent  him  this  cable  (it  was  afterward 
produced  in  court  in  evidence  against  him):  "Edwin  Noyes, 
New  York.  Come  by  Atlantic  on  Wednesday;  wire  on  ar- 
rival at  Liverpool;  meet  at  Langham." 

He  arrived  ten  days  later,  and  at  a  little  dinner  given  in  his 
honor  we  told  him  our  plot.  He  was  astounded,  and  for  the 
remainder  of  the  dinner,  and  for  the  day,  too,  for  the  matter 
of  that,  he  acted  like  a  man  in  a  dream,  and  we  three  were 
amazed  that  lie  did  not  instantly  fall  into  our  plan. 

Here  was  the  dramatic  representation  of  the  poisonous 
effect  of  wrongdoing.  We  three  had  by  degrees  become 
accustomed  to  look  upon  a  fraud  committed  by  ourselves 
with  equanimity.  I  say  by  degrees.  Insensibly  we  had 
been  sinking  deeper  and  deeper,  until,  our  moral  senses 
blunted,  we  found  excuses  to  our  own  consciences.  But 
here  was  my  companion  and  friend ;  he  was  no  Puritan,  but, 
like  ourselves  but  a  few  brief  months  before,  regarded  crime 
with  detestation,  and  now,  when  the  men  he  trusted  proposed 
he  should  become  a  party  to  a  crime,  his  mind  revolted  in 
horror.  Well  for  him  had  he  yielded  to  the  prompting  of 
his  own  conscience  and  fled  from  us  and  the  fearful  tempta- 
tion of  sudden  wealth.  At  last  he  said  he  would  consider 
it.  After  a  day  or  two  of  silence  he  began  to  question  us  as 
to  our  mode  of  operation,  then  his  mind  became  more  and 
more  familiarized  to  the  thought,  until  at  last,  fascinated  by 
our  association,  he  acquiesced,  saying:  "I  will  do  it     I  want 


220  FROM  "WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

money  badly.     The  Bank  of  England,  after  all,  will  not  miss 
it.     So  I'll  go  in  for  this  once." 

By  our  direction  he  went  to  an  obscure  hotel  in  Manches- 
ter square,  and  then  purchased  clothes  more  suitable  for  his 
new  position  than  the  fashionable  tailor-cut  suit  he  wore 
from  New  York. 

On  several  occasions  I  had  gone  to  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.  in 
Lombard  street  and  purchased  bonds  under  the  name  of  F. 
A.  Warren  and  giving  checks  in  payment  upon  the  Bank 
of  England.  So  one  day  I  went  there  with  Noyes  and  pur- 
chased $20,000  in  bonds,  giving  my  check  for  them.  I  then 
introduced  Noyes  as  my  clerk,  directing  them  to  deliver 
any  bonds  I  bought  to  him  at  any  time.  The  next  day  he 
called  and  they  gave  him  the  bonds  which  I  had  given  my 
check  for  the  day  before,  so  there  was  no  necessity  any 
longer  for  me  to  come  in  person  to  make  purchases.  Noyes 
could  appear  there  any  day,  give  an  order  for  bonds,  secure 
a  bill  for  them,  and  in  half  an  hour  bring  a  Warren  check 
for  the  amount  of  the  bill,  pretending,  of  course,  that  he  had 
got  it  from  me,  but  really  getting  it  from  Mac,  leaving  the 
check  for  collection  and  to  call  the  next  day  for  the  bonds. 

The  same  day  that  I  introduced  him  to  Jay  Cooke  &  Co. 
I  took  him  to  the  Bank  of  England  at  a  busy  time  of  day, 
and  while  drawing  £2,000,  I  casually  introduced  hdm  to  the 
paying  teller  as  my  clerk,  requesting  the  teller  to  pay  him 
any  checks  I  sent.  Then  for  the  next  few  days  I  had  Noyes 
take  checks  to  the  bank  and  had  him  order  two  or  three  small 
lots  of  bonds  from  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.,  so  that  they  became 
familiarized  with  seeing  him  come  on  my  business. 

The  plan  was  complete  at  last.  Everything  was  ready 
to  carry  out  our  scheme  in  perfect  safety  to  all,  and,  as  re- 
lated in  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  I  was  now  on  my  way 
to  the  bank  for  my  last  visit,  with  the  Rothschild  bill  in  my 
hand.  Many  accounts  were  given  of  this  famous  interview 
in  the  English  press  just  after  the  discovery  of  the  fraud  and 


i    DEMAN1>    A    GCAKU   AND     SUHl/IKR    FOR     MY     WIFE,     THE 
DUCHESS."— Page    282. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  221 

prior  to  my  arrest,  also  when  the  details  transpired  at  the 
trial.  The  facts  were  simply  these:  I  presented  myself  at  the 
bank,  and,  sending  in  my  card  to  the  manager,  was  ushered 
at  once  into  his  parlor.  After  a  few  remarks  upon  the 
money  and  stock  market,  I  produced  the  bill,  remarking  that 
I  had  a  curiosity  to  show  him  which  had  been  sent  me  by  a 
correspondent  in  Paris.  It  was  certainly  a  curiosity ;  it  was 
a  thing  entirely  unknown  in  the  history  of  the  bank  to  have 
a  bill  of  exchange  bearing  the  signature  of  a  Cabinet  Min- 
ister certifying  that  the  internal  revenue  tax  had  been  paid 
on  it.  This,  along  with  the  circumstance  that  the  bill  was 
made  payable  to  myself,  evidently  made  considerable  im- 
pression on  the  manager  and  confirmed  him  in  his  good 
opinion  of  his  customer.  The  unusual  features  of  this  bill 
of  exchange  led  him  to  relate  some  of  the  inner  events  of  the 
bank's  history,  during  which  I  asked  him  what  precaution 
the  bank  took  against  forgery.  He  told  me  a  forgery  on 
the  bank  was  impossible.  But  I  asked:  "Why  impossible? 
Other  banks  get  hit  sometimes,  and  why  not  the  Bank  of 
England?"  To  that  question  he  gave  a  long  reply,  ending 
with  the  assertion  that  "our  wise  forefathers  have  bequeathed 
us  a  system  which  is  perfect."  "Do  you  wish  me  to  under- 
stand you  have  not  changed  your  system  since  your  fore- 
fathers' time?"  I  said.  To  which  he  emphatically  replied: 
"Not  in  the  slightest  particular  for  a  hundred  years."  In 
conclusion  I  told  him  I  should  be  fully  occupied  looking 
after  my  different  business  interests,  but  would  give  him  a 
call  if  I  found  time.  I  also  said  I  would  have  the  bill  dis- 
counted and  take  the  cash  away  with  me,  instead  of  having 
it  placed  to  my  credit.  He  called  an  attendant,  gave  the 
necessary  order,  and  the  cash  was  handed  me.  Bidding  the 
manager  good-bye,  I  repaired  to  our  meeting  place  and. 
showed  the  notes  for  the  discounted  bill.  Even  George  was 
satisfied  that  my  credit  at  the  bank  was  good  for  any  amount 
of  discounts  on  any  sort  of  paper. 


222  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Everything  now  was  read}^  for  my  departure  from  Eng- 
land. For  some  weeks  my  partners  had  been  busy  prepar- 
ing for  the  completion  of  the  operation. 

The  first  lot  of  bogus  bills  were  ready  to  go  into  the  mail 
at  Birmingham  as  soon  as  I  was  out  of  the  way — it  having 
been  decided  that  I  should  then  be  out  of  the  country.  So 
one  Monday  late  in  November  I  packed  my  baggage,  and, 
after  many  warm  hand  shakings,  I  bade  my  friends  adieu. 
We  had  had  many  talks  about  the  happy  future.  We  had 
planned  pleasant  things  in  the  future,  and  spoken  confidently 
of  our  four-in-hands,  our  Summer  cottages  at  Saratoga  and 
Newport,  of  our  town  house,  fine  suppers  and  our  boxes  at 
the  opera.  After  that  I  saw  them  for  a  brief  hour  on  the 
coast  of  France  and  once  more  said  adieu.  When  we  met 
again  it  was  in  Newgate.  I  need  hardly  say  that  for  the 
next  twenty  years  we  had  no  boxes  at  the  grand  opera,  no 
four-in-hands,  nor  yet  any  fine  suppers,  but  all  that  which 
was  merely  external  passed  away,  consumed  in  that  fierce 
flame,  but  all  that  was  manly  and  true  remained ;  that  is,  our 
devotion  and  courage  and  our  high  resolve  to  conquer 
fate  and  live  for  better  things. 

Before  leaving  London  we  had  squared  up  our  cash  ac- 
count. It  was  something  to  make  one  stare  to  see  how  our 
money  had  melted  away.  It  was  arranged  to  send  in  the 
first  lot  of  bogus  bills  on  Thursday,  giving  me  two  full  days 
out  of  the  country.  Here  I  made  a  fatal  mistake  in  deter- 
mining to  go  to  the  West  Indies,  then  on  to  Mexico.  As 
George  had  planned  I  should  have  gone  at  once  to  New 
York,  stopped  at  the  best  hotel  in  the  city  and  registered  in 
my  right  name.  By  taking  this  course  I  should  have  been 
safe  and  could  have  laughed  at  any  attempt  of  the  bank  au- 
thorities to  extradite  me,  for  the  first  lot  of  bogus  bills  could 
have  been  held  back  until  I  had  actuaJly  arrived  in  Ameri- 
ca. Then  there  could  not  have  been  found  a  single  particle 
of  evidence  against  me. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  223 

I  say  "if  I  had  come  to  New  York."  But  there  is  some 
mysterious  spell  over  men  embarked  in  crime  that  blinds 
their  eyes  to  the  plainest  dictates  of  common  sense  or  pru- 
dence. This  has  been  proved  in  a  thousand  dramatic  in- 
stances, but  never  more  forcibly  than  in  our  own.  It  would 
seem  as  if  clever,  daring  men  do  almost  impossible  things 
with  ease,  but  there  is  a  Nemesis  which  blinds  them  to  trifles. 
fatal  if  overlooked,  causing  them  to  make  mistakes  of  which 
a  schoolboy  would  be  ashamed. 

When  we  first  got  our  combination  together  I  thought 
we  had  found  a  short  cut  to  fortune,  and  never  doubted  of 
our  success  to  the  very  end,  and  amid  many  mishaps,  that 
either  crippled  or  ruined  our  schemes  and  lengthened  this 
short  cut  to  fortune,  I  maintained  my  confidence  until  on  that 
day  down  in  blazing  Rio,  when  the  letter  "c"  in  lieu  of  the 
"s"  in  indorse  came  to  the  front  to  crumble  our  "sure  thing" 
into  ruin.  I  remember  that  in  the  stupefaction  which  for  a 
few  minutes  settled  down  on  us,  I  felt  we  were  really  fight- 
ing against  fate.  A  fate  that  like  the  fiat  of  Deity  says 
"Thou  shalt  not,"  to  all  wrongdoing. 

For  some  time  after  that  "indorce"  takedown  a  feeling 
took  possession  of  me  that  such  short  cuts  to  fortune  were 
risky,  and  that  if  success  did  come  the  success  would  in  the 
end  prove  a  failure.  But  there  is  so  much  in  companion- 
ship and  such  magnetism  in  human  association  that  when 
we  all  three  met  in  Paris  and  went  in  and  out  together,  then, 
under  the  stimulus  of  our  union,  I  forgot  all  my  forebodings 
and  began  to  think  the  unforeseen  fatal  something  would 
not  happen,  and  that  we  could  conquer  fortune  whether  she 
would  or  no,  and  by  any  method  on  which  we  chose  to  enter. 
But,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  when  reveling  in  an  un- 
heard-of success,  literally  loaded  down  with  wealth,  Nemesis 
appeared  and  by  means  even  more  simple  than  our  error 
in  Rio  stripped  us  of  our  wealth  and  dignity  and  left  us 
naked  to  every  storm  that  blew. 


CHAPTER      XXIII.. 

SHOWERS    OP    GOLD   FALL— AND   THEN? 

I  shall  try  and  condense  into  a  single  chapter  the  narra- 
tive of  events  in  London  from  the  time  of  my  departure 
until  the  day,  some  months  later,  when  our  scheme  exploded 
and  all  took  to  flight  when  Noyes  was  arrested. 

Our  expenses  had  been  so  enormous  that  we  were  anxious 
to  make  enough  to  recoup  them,  so  it  had  been  agreed  that 
the  first  batch  of  bogus  bills  should  not  exceed  the  amount 
paid  out  since  leaving  Rio. 

I  left  for  Paris  on  Monday.  On  Wednesday,  Noyes  went 
to  the  bank  and  drew  out  all  the  money  to  my  credit,  except 
three  hundred  pounds.  The  same  day  he  went  to  Birming- 
ham and  mailed  lot  number  one  of  home-manufacture  bills 
representing  £8,000. 

The  next  twenty-four  hours  was  an  anxious  time  for  my 
friends.  The  bills  would  be  delivered  by  the  early  mail  on 
Thursday,  and  if  all  went  right  the  proceeds  would  be 
placed  to  my  credit  by  12  o'clock,  and  the  bills  themselves 
would  be  stowed  away  in  the  vaults  until  they  were  due  some 
months  ahead.  George  and  Mac  waited  with  the  greatest 
anxiety  until  2  o'clock.  They  had  everything  packed  for 
instant  flight,  when  at  that  hour  they  sallied  out  of  Mac's 
lodging  and  started  for  the  bank  to  make  the  test.  They 
had  filled  out  two  Warren  checks,  one  for  £2,300  payable  to 
Warren,  another  for  £4.  los.,  payable  to  bearer. 

Noyes  went  on  ahead,  the  others  following,  and  took  his 
stand  on  the  steps  of  a  hotel  in  a  side  street  not  far  from  the 
(224) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  225 

•bank.  Keeping  his  eye  out  for  a  suitable  appearing  party 
he  finally  stopped  a  uniformed  messenger,  and,  telling  him  to 
take  the  £4  los.  check  to  the  bank,  bring  the  money  to  him 
there,  and  he  would  be  paid  for  his  trouble. 

Of  course,  as  soon  as  the  messenger  had  turned  his  back 
Noyes  bolted  around  the  corner  to  a  place  agreed  upon, 
while  Mac  followed  the  messenger  to  the  bank  and  saw  he 
was  paid  without  question.  He  gave  the  prearranged  signal 
to  George,  who  went  with  all  haste  to  notify  Noyes,  and 
when  the  messenger  arrived  with  the  cash,  he  found  him- 
standing  on  the  steps  as  cool  and  unconcerned  as  possible. 
Paying  the  messenger,  all  three  started  to  the  bank,  Mac  on 
the  way  giving  Noyes  the  £2,300  check,  which  he  presented. 
Nodding  good  day  to  the  cashier  he  asked  for  £2,000  in  gold 
and  the  remainder  in  notes,  which  were  handed  him  at  once, 
and  three  ver}^  happy  men  sat  down  that  evening  to  dinner, 
because  the  day's  operations  had  conclusively  proved  that 
the  Bank  of  England  methods  were  fallible. 

The  next  morning  Noyes  went  to  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.  and 
ordered  $75,000  in  United  States  bonds,  giving  a  check  for 
them  on  the  bank.  The  same  afternoon  he  went  to  Birming- 
ham and  mailed  another  letter,  this  one  containing  £15,000 
in  bills,  and  later  drew  £2,000  in  gold  from  tlie  bank.  On 
Monday  he  went  after  the  bonds,  and  the  $75,000  was  hand- 
ed over  to  him  without  questions.  The  whole  operation 
was  a  repetition  of  these  tactics,  but  with  an  ever-increasing 
volume  in  the  amounts  of  the  bills.  On  some  days  the  mail 
brought  to  the  bank  letters  with  bills  for  $100,000,  some- 
times for  more,  sometimes  for  less.  So  November  and  De- 
cember passed  away,  and  the  bank  continued  day  by  day 
and  week  by  week  laying  away  in  its  vaults  the  worthless 
collateral  of  Mr.  F.  A.  Warren  in  exchange  for  its  gold. 

But  why  not  be  satisfied  and  stop  while  it  was  all  right? 
That  is  the  question  of  a  wise  man,  but  who  ever  knew  any 
man  who  wanted  to  do  a  thing,  whether  he  did  it  or  not,  who 


226  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

could  not  find  half  a  hundred  good  reasons  why  he  should 
do  it.  But  as  Christnaas  came  near  Mac  began  to  long  for 
home.  He  had  repaid  his  father  every  penny  of  the  large 
sum  he  was  owing  him;  there  had  been  a  reconciliation  by 
mail,  and  each  steamer  that  came  bore  many  long  letters 
from  parents  and  sisters,  all  speaking  of  their  joy  over  the 
happy  turn  of  events  that  was  going  to  bring  the  absent 
member  of  the  fliock  home  within  its  walls  again.  The 
father's  heart,  long  estranged,  grew  very  tender  toward  his 
boy,  and  with  pride  he  thought  his  eldest  had  thrown  ofT  the 
follies  of  his  youth,  and  in  manful  strength  was  making 
ample  atonements  for  the  thoughtlessness  and  the  wander- 
ings of  his  youth.  He  and  they  were  all  destined  to  a  ter- 
rible awakening.  For  soon  the  press  of  the  world  was  to 
teem  with  accounts  of  his  son's  arrest  and  incarceration  for 
participation  in  a  gigantic  fraud.  When  the  blow  fell  it 
came  with  crushing  force  on  that  home,  and  a  shadow  deep 
as  night  settled  down  on  the  household;  all  joyousness  and 
even  hope  itself  fled  when  the  cable  bore  the  news  that  their 
boy  had  been  condemned  to  life  imprisonment  in  a  foreign 
dungeon.  And  one  by  one  the  members  of  that  family 
passed  away  from  a  world  that  held  no  more  for  them  since 
their  good  name  had  been  tarnished. 

In  London  the  boys  talked  of  spending  Christmas  at  home, 
but  the  argument  to  stay — and  it  prevailed — was  that  since 
the  money  came  in  so  easily  and  in  such  amounts  it  was  a 
pity  to  run  away  from  it.  Then,  again,  by  obtaining  an  enor- 
mous sum  and  putting  it  in  a  place  of  absolute  security,  the 
bank  would  be  glad  to  compromise  the  matter  in  considera- 
tion of  receiving  a  million  or  two  back  again. 

So  they  spent  a  pretty  merry  and  an  exceedingly  expen- 
sive Christmas  in  London,  but  later  in  February  they  deter- 
mined to  pack  up  and  leave. 

Everything  smiled  upon  them.  The  gold  and  bonds  they 
had,  meant  fortunes  for  all.     I  was  away  in  tropic  islands 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  227 

leading  an  idle  life  with  my  bride  amid  the  cocoanut  and 
palm  trees.  ]\Iac  and  George  had  never  appeared  in  the 
transaction,  and  as  for  Noyes,  not  a  soul  in  all  America  knew 
he  was  in  Europe,  and  in  all  Europe  only  three  or  four  peo- 
ple had  seen  him,  and  knew  him  as  representing  Warren. 

The  business  was  finished.  All  three  laden  with  mone) 
were  going  to  leave  England,  leaving  the  bank  to  slumbei 
on  for  weeks  until  the  first  bills  became  due  before  there 
could  be  a  discovery.  By  that  time  the  cash  would  have 
been  safely  stewed,  and  how  or  where  or  to  whom  could 
anything  be  traced? 

So  in  council  they  had  decided  to  be  content  with  the 
enormous  amount  they  had.     The  last  batch  of  bills  was  in 
the  mail.     Only  one  day  more  and  the  strain  on  the  nerves 
would  be  over.     That  day  Noyes  bought  bonds  and  drew 
cash  for  more  than  $150,000.     At  3  o'clock  they  sat  down 
to  lunch,  their  last  in  London,  and  then  went  direct  to  Mac's 
apartments  in  St.  James'  place.     All  the  material  for  making 
fraudulent  bills  was  there,  and  what  could  be  burned  was  to 
be  thrown  into  the  grate,  and  the  rest  to  first  be  filed  into 
blank  nothings  and  then  thrown  into  the  Thames.       The 
three  were  there  and  they  were  happy.       They  had  engi- 
neered a  gigantic  scheme,  had  struck  for  wealth  and  won. 
The  short  cut  to  fortune  in  defiance  of  fate  had  been  trav- 
ersed and  now  they  set  about  a  grateful  task — that  of  get- 
ting themselves  and  their  rich  argosy  out  of  England.     Mac 
being  the  artist  of  the  party,  and  having  executed  the  actual 
writing,  drew  the  sealed  box  containing  the  unused  bills  up 
to  the  fire  and  began  throwing  them  in  one  by  one.     In  do- 
ing so  he  occasionally  would  throw  some  bill  more  elaborate 
than  the  common  run  on  the  floor  beside  his  chair.     He 
had  finished  his  task  and  took  from  the  floor  those  he  had 
thrown  there,  looked  at  them  for  a  moment,  then  crumbling 
them  together,  raised  his  hand  to  throw  them  in  the  fire,  but 
as  the  devil  always  forsakes  his  friends  at  the  critical  mo- 


228  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

merit,  he  stopped,  smoothed  out  the  bills  and  turning  to  th? 
others,  said:  "Boys,  these  are  perfect  works  of  art;  it  is  a  pity 
to  destroy  them."  From  our  point  of  view  it  was,  since  it 
was  only  necessary  to  drop  them  into  the  mail  and  they 
would  coin  us  thousands.  Then  George,  said:  "Suppose  we 
send  them  in."  The  others  said  "All  right,"  and  our  doom 
was  sealed. 

There  were  in  the  lot  nineteen  bills  of  exchange  for  £26,- 
000.  A  date  had  been  left  ofif  one  of  them!  They  failed 
to  note  it!     Poor  fools,  we  had  sold  ourselves. 

Was  this  an  accident?  No,  it  was  Nemesis;  it  was  any- 
thing you  want  to  call  it,  but  it  was  not  an  accident. 

So  a  letter  was  written,  the  bills,  with  memorandum.,  in- 
closed, the  envelope  directed  and  stamped,  and  the  three 
fools  went  to  Birmingham,  mailed  the  letter,  and  then 
laughed  over  their  success  in  the  fight  against  society,  fecil- 
itated  themselves  that  they  had  discovered  the  undiscover- 
able,  that  they  had  safely  traversed  the  short  cut  to  fortune. 
There  is  no  short  cut  by  wrongdoing  to  fortune,  Boss  Tweed 
and  the  long  list  of  robber  barons  to  the  contrary! 

The  bills  were  mailed  on  Monday.  As  that  fatal  letter 
slipped  from  their  fingers  into  the  mail-box  the  last  act  of 
the  deadly  tragedy  began.  When  it  ended  the  curtain  fell 
upon  us  descending  from  the  dock  into  the  chill  dungeons 
of  Newgate,  never,  so  far  as  the  sentence  was  concerned,  to 
emerge  again. 

On  Tuesday  morning  the  letter  with  the  bills  arrived  at 
the  bank.  Following  the  routine,  they  went  to  the  discount 
department,  were  discounted  and  placed  to  my  credit.  As  I 
had  a  balance  of  £20,000,  when  the  proceeds  of  the  bills  were 
added  to  it,  it  brought  up  the  whole  to  the  handsome  sum 
of  £46,000. 

When  the  bills  arrived  at  the  bank  a  strange  thing  oc- 
curred. The  fatal  omission  was  made  on  an  acceptance  of 
Blydenstein  &  Co.,  a  great  banking  firm  in  London.    The 


'THE  DAY  OF  MT  DESTINY  IS  OVER. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  229 

discount  clerk  noticed  the  omission  of  the  date  of  accept- 
ance, but  this  being  a  mere  formality,  he  thought  it  a  clerical 
error  on  the  part  of  the  bookkeeper  of  Blydenstein  &  Co. 
He  made  no  report  of  the  matter,  and  it  was  discounted 
along  with  the  other  eighteen,  which  were  put  away  in  the 
vaults  with  the  batches  that  had  preceded  it,  while  he  laid 
this  one  aside  until  the  next  day,  which  was  Wednesday.  At 
half  past  ten  he  gave  it  to  the  bank  messenger,  telling  him 
when  he  went  his  regular  rounds  to  take  the  bill  to  Blyden- 
stein's  and  request  them  to  correct  the  omission. 

At  2  p.  m.  on  Tuesday  Noyes  went  to  Jay  Cooke  &  Co. 
and  ordered  $100,000  in  United  States  bonds,  and  gave 
them  a  check  on  the  Bank  of  England  for  the  amount 
He  was  to  call  for  the  bonds  next  day,  of  course,  after  the 
check  had  gone  through  the  Clearing  House  and  had  been 
paid. 

As  soon  as  the  bank  opened  on  Wednesday,  in  order  to 
test  if  everything  was  all  right,  Noyes  sent  in  a  messenger 
with  a  small  cherl:,  and  the  money  was  thrown  out  as  at  all 
other  times  without  remark.  And  that  was  a  complete 
demonstration  that  everything  was  all  right.  So  it  was  then, 
but  within  thirty  minutes  from  that  second  the  messenger 
was  going  to  start  with  the  bill  to  Blydenstein's  for  cor- 
rection. 

This  was  10  o'clock  Wednesday.  The  bills  had  been 
twenty-five  hours  in  the  possession  of  the  bank,  had  been 
discounted  and  the  proceeds  placed  to  my  credit  for  twenty- 
four  hours. 

Who  with  intellect  less  than  an  archangel's  could  have 
divined  the  true  combination?  First  of  all,  that  men  brill- 
iant and  clever,  gambling  with  their  lives,  could  have  made 
such  an  omission,  damning,  fatal.  Second,  if  made,  that  the 
great  Bank  of  England,  thought  absolutely  infallible  by  the 
whole  world,  conservative,  supposedly  cautious,  would  have 
discounted  a  bill  for  ^20,00    with  the  date  out  of  the  accept- 


230  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

ance,  and  having  done  so,  hold  the  bill  well  on  into  the  sec- 
ond day,  without  a  discovery,  and  that,  too,  when  the  firm 
whose  acceptance  was  a  forgery  was  not  lOO  yards  away! 
So  when  at  lo  o'clock  on  Wednesday  Mac  saw  the  small 
check  paid  without  question  to  the  messenger  it  seemed 
he  had  an  assurance  doubly  sure  and  a  bond  of  fate  that  all 
was  well,  and  that  the  last  batch  of  bills  was  packed  safely 
away  for  another  three  months  in  the  vaults  of  the  bank. 

So  Noyes  went  at  once  to  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.,  and  as  the 
check  had  been  paid  at  the  bank  they  handed  over,  as  in  so 
many  other  occasions,  the  $100,000  in  bonds  to  him. 

Mac  and  George  were  outside.  George  took  the  bonds 
and  gave  Noyes  a  i  10,000  check,  and  one  minute  from  his 
leaving  Jay  Cooke  &  Co.,  Noyes  was  at  the  counter  of  the 
bank.  The  cashier  counted  out  the  $50,000  to  him.  He 
walked  out  of  the  bank  with  a  lighter  heart  and  more  buoy- 
ant step  than  ever  before,  for  was  not  the  danger  all  over 
and  the  long  strain  on  the  nerves  at  an  end,  the  transaction 
complete  and  fortune  won?  He  was  never  going  to  the 
bank  again. 

They  had  arranged  to  meet  at  Garraway's  Cofifee  House 
in  Exchange  alley.  This  is  the  Garraway's  that  became  so 
famous  at  the  time  of  the  South  Sea  Bubble,  and  its  fame 
continued  down  to  the  end  of  the  wars  of  Napoleon.  Then 
its  glory  departed  as  a  centre  of  speculations,  but  its  renown 
as  an  old-fashioned  chophouse  remained  till  1873.  Every- 
where in  contemporary  English  literature,  from  Swift  and 
Addison  to  Goldsmith  and  Johnson,  one  meets  references 
to  Garroway's. 

The  Dean  immortalized  it  in  his  well-known  lines  on 
'Change  Alley: 

"There  is  a  gulf  where  thousands  fell. 
Here  all  the  bold  adventurers  came, 
A  narrow  soutid,  though  deep  as  hell, 
'Change  Alle^  is  \ht  dreadful  name, 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  231 

"Subscribers  here  by  thousands  float 
And  jostle  one  another  down. 
Each  paddHng  in  his  leaky  boat, 

And  here  they  fish  for  gold  and  drown. 

"Meantime  secure  on  Garraway's  cliffs 
A  savage  race  by  shipwreck  fed, 
Lie  waiting  for  the  foundered  skiffs 
And  strip  the  bodies  of  the  dead." 

Dickens  also  makes  it  the  scene  of  the  writing  of  the  fa- 
mous chops  and  tomato  sauce  letter  from  Mr.  Pickwick  to 
Mrs.  Bardell. 

One  can  imagine  the  elation  of  my  friends  as  they  sat 
around  that  little  table  at  Garraway's.  It  was  only  10.35- 
Their  income  that  morning  had  been  $150,000.  And  many 
more  such  days  had  gone  before.  All  danger  was  over, 
wealth  was  won.  They  saw  themselves  back  in  America, 
among  the  Four  Hundred,  possessors  of  a  fortune,  however 
wrongfully  obtained,  yet  obtained  in  a  way  that  would  leave 
behind  no  ruined  widows  and  orphans  to  linger  out  the  re- 
mainder of  their  blighted  lives  in  poverty  and  misery.  That 
was  a  point  which  added  zest  to  their  enjoyment  of  the  pros- 
pect. 

"I  am  never  to  go  to  the  bank  again.  Come,  shake  hands 
on  that,"  said  Noyes.  And  in  their  excitement  and  wild 
delight  they  shook  hands  again  and  again. 

But  they  would  have  moderated  their  joy  had  they  known 
that  at  the  very  moment  the  bank  porter,  pale  and  fright- 
ened, was  rushing  past  the  room  where  they  sat,  carrying 
the  news  to  the  bank  that  the  two-thousand  pound  bill  was 
a  forgery.  Instantly  all  was  confusion  and  excitement  in  the 
bank.  Telegrams  were  at  once  sent  to  the  detective  police, 
and  at  that  moment  swarms  of  them  were  pouring  out  of  the 
Bow  street  and  Scotland  Yard  offices. 

That  already  stories  of  gigantic  frauds,  multiplied  a  thou- 
sand fold  by  rumor,  were  flying  everywhere  that  every  banK 


232  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NETWGATE 

in  London  was  victimized.  In  ten  minutes  the  story  reached 
the  Stock  Exchange  and  a  scene  of  terrific  excitement  en- 
sued, and,  through  it  all,  our  three  innocents  sat  on  in  that 
dingy  old  coffee-house,  serenely  unconscious  of  the  fearful 
storm  that  was  rising.  Still  they  were  safe.  Everything 
was  confusion  in  the  bank.  The  terrified  official,  frantic 
with  fear,  could  only  describe  a  tall  young  man,  an  Ameri- 
can, who  said  his  name  was  Warren. 

Had  my  three  triumphant  friends  only  known  what  was 
up  they  might  have  sat  where  they  were  the  day  through 
and  drank  porter  out  of  the  pewter  mugs  in  safety.  There 
were  a  hundred  thousand  men  in  London  who  would  an- 
swer any  description  the  bank  could  have  given  of  Noyes, 
Mac  and  George  had  never  appeared  in  the  transaction,  and 
I,  the  F,  A.  Warren  they  were  looking  for,  was  living  quietly 
with  my  young  wife  in  a  lovely  isle  in  the  tropic  sea. 

Surely  then,  these  three  high-toned  financiers  still  had  the 
game  in  their  own  hands.  They  had  nothing  to  fear.  They 
had  wealth.  There  was  no  clue  to  their  identity  and  the 
world  was  before  tliem — a  world  wliich  lays  her  treasures 
and  pleasures  at  the  feet  of  him  who  commands  wealth. 

But  that  mighty  Something  had  decreed  otherwise,  and  a 
subtle  spirit  under  whose  power  they  were  but  purposeless 
puppets  inspired  them  to  commit  an  act  of  folly  which  was 
to  hurl  them  from  the  fools'  paradise  wherein  they  were  rev- 
cling  down  to  the  pit  of  despair. 

Upon  Mac  casually  remarking  that  they  had  still  a  bal- 
ance of  $75,000  to  Warren's  credit,  Noyes  spoke  up  and 
said:  "Boys,  that  is  too  much  money  to  leave  John  Bull; 
suppose  you  make  out  a  check  for  £5,000.  I  will  run  over 
and  get  the  cash,  and  it  will  do  for  pocket  money."  And 
the  two  others,  triumphant  in  success,  became  idiots  and  as- 
sented. Making  out  a  check  for  £5,000,  Noyes  started  for 
the  bank,  check  in  hand,  and  entering,  instantly  found  him- 
self with  a  hot  and  angry  swarm  of  hornets  about  him. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY. 


235 


There  were  twenty-five  detectives  in  and  around  the  bank. 
Special  messengers  had  summoned  the  affrighted  directors. 
The  great  bank  parlor  was  packed  with  a  host  of  stockhold- 
ers and  directors,  who  were  questioning  the  manager  and 
clerks.  And  excitement  rose  to  fever  heat  when,  with  twenty 
hands  holding  him,  poor  Noyes  was  hustled  in  among  them. 
They  rushed  at  him  like  a'  pack  of  wolves.  Had 
that  been  a  bank  parlor  in  festive  Arizona,  they  would  not 
have  endured  the  delay  incidental  to  procuring  a  rope,  but 
would  have  ended  it  and  him  by  gunnery  at  short  range. 
Noyes  could  not  be  shaken;  his  nerve  never  failed.  He 
said  a  gentleman  had  hired  him  as  a  clerk,  and  that  was  all 
he  knew.  He  had  left  him  at  the  Stock  Exchange;  if  they 
would  let  him  go,  he  would  try  and  find  him  and  bring  him 
around  to  the  bank.  J.  Bull  is  gullible,  but  not  so  much 
so  as  to  swallow  that  yarn. 

So  they  held  tightly  to  him,  and  a  committee  of  indig- 
nant Britons  escorted  him  to  Newgate. 
14 


A    SENTRY. 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

POINTS  FOR  JUSTICE  TO  PICK  UP. 

Mac  and  George  were  without,  and  were  stricken  with 
consternation,  for  a  minute's  observation  of  the  gathering 
crowd  and  the  rushing  into  the  bank  of  excited  people  con- 
vinced them  something  unusual  was  in  the  wind,  and  they 
knew  Noyes  must  be  in  deadly  peril.  Mac  rushed  into  the 
bank  in  hope  to  warn  or  to  be  of  help.  Everything  there 
was  in  confusion.  Unobserved  in  the  excitement,  he  made 
his  way  into  the  parlor  and  there  saw  what  made  his  heart 
stand  still — Noyes  surrounded  by  an  angry  crowd  of  oflficials. 
With  great  presence  of  mind  and  great  nerve  he  pushed 
through  toward  Noyes,  who  saw  him  and  knew  he  was  there 
to  help  if  he  had  a  chance  to  bolt  from  his  captors ;  but  there 
was  no  chance.  As  they  were  about  starting  for  Newgate, 
Mac  slipped  outside  and  told  George  what  had  befallen 
Noyes,  and  discussed  the  possibility  of  a  rescue  when  on 
the  way  to  Newgate  with  him.  While  they  were  waiting 
in  the  entrance  Noyes  came  out  in  custody.  He  saw  and 
recognized  them.  They  joined  in  the  crowd  and  were  within 
arm's  reach  of  him  every  rod  of  the  short  distance  to  New- 
gate, but  the  crowd  was  packed  so  tight  that  one  could 
hardly  move,  and  a  rush  for  escape  was  hopeless.  Arrived 
at  Newgate,  Mac  in  his  desperation  was  entering  with  the 
escort,  when  George  pulled  him  away,  and  as  they  got  out 
of  the  crowd  they  heard  the  newsboys  crying:  "Great  forg- 
ery on  the  Bank  of  England  by  an  American;  iio,ooo,ooQ 
(236) 


/! 

' 

^s:^^ 

.Mm 

'■'. 

'NOTES    WAS    SURROUNDKD      BY      AN      ANGRY      CROWD      OF 
OFFICIALS."— Page  23G. 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE,  237 

obtained."  That  afternoon  Lionel  Rothschild,  president  of 
the  Board  of  Directors,  called  on  him  at  Newgate,  and  of- 
fered him  his  liberty  and  ii,ooo  reward  if  he  would  tell  all 
he  knew;  but  Noyes'  nerve  was  not  to  be  shaken.  He  said 
a  gentleman,  an  entire  stranger,  had  hired  him  as  a  clerk 
and  messenger,  and  he  knew  nothing  about  Mr.  Warren  nor 
his  business. 

All  this  time  the  $150,000  drawn  that  morning  was  in  a 
stout  bag  behind  the  counter  at  Garraway's. 

Little  did  the  barmaids  dream  of  the  treasure  that  was 
in  the  bag  at  their  feet.  When  Mac  went  for  it,  one  of  the 
barmaids  asked  him  if  he  had  heard  of  the  great  bank  rob- 
bery. He  drove  to  St.  James'  place,  and  soon  George  joined 
him  there. 

Here  again  was  enacted  the  scene  we  had  in  Rio ;  as  there, 
so  here,  they  looked  at  each  other  in  helpless  stupefaction. 
Why  had  they  not  been  satisfied?  Why  had  they  let  Noyes 
go  for  a  paltry  £5,000?     Why  had  they  not  understood  the 
meaning  of  the  evident  excitement  in  and  around  the  bank? 
In  Rio  there  was  only  a  suspicion  aroused.     Here  our 
companion  was  a  prisoner  in  Newgate.     Scarcely  an  hour 
had  passed  since  he  was  free  and  without  a  fear  had  joined 
in  the  congratulatory  scene  at  Garraway's.     Now  ruin  was 
threatened.     Upon  cool  reflection  they  came  to  two  con- 
clusions.    First,  that  Noyes  not  only  would  never  betray 
them,  but  that  he  could  be  depended  upon  to  keep  so  close 
a  mouth  that  no  clue  could  be  pumped  from  him ;  and  next, 
that  he  could  never  be  convicted  of  the  forgery. 

He  might,  of  course,  be  subjected  to  a  few  weeks  of  New- 
gate life.  That  was  very  awkward,  of  course,  but  it  would 
come  all  right. 

So  they  resolved  for  the  present  to  remain  in  London  and 
await  developments. 

That  nigfht  the  cable  flashed  the  news  of  the  forgery  over 
the  world,  dwelling  particularly  upon  the  fact  that  the  per- 


238  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

petrator  was  an  American.  The  next  morning  the  London 
press  overflowed.  Every  prominent  paper  gave  a  leader  in 
the  editorial  column,  and  when  the  weeklies  and  monthlies 
came  out  they  followed  suit.  These  editorials  make  now  to 
us  who  were  on  the  inside  amusing  reading.  They  were 
full  of  Philistine  talk  and  amazement,  and  generally  con- 
ceded that  Noyes  was  an  innocent  dupe,  and  all  more  or  less 
doubted  if  his  principal,  the  mysterious  Mr.  F.  A.  Warren, 
would  ever  come  back  to  say  so. 

Day  after  day  went  by,  and  Mac  and  George  hung  around 
London  reading  the  accounts  of  the  aflfair  and  of  the  exam- 
ination of  Noyes  before  the  Lord  Mayor. 

They  had  communicated  with  him  through  his  solicitor, 
and  he  sent  them  word  to  leave  England  at  once.  In  the 
mean  time  they  had  been  sending  away  the  cash,  and  so  en- 
trenched were  they  in  the  belief  that  by  no  possible  chance 
could  their  names  become  mixed  up  in  the  affair  that  in 
every  instance  but  two  they  sent  the  money  or  bonds  to 
America  in  their  right  names. 

In  the  mean  time  the  bank  very  wisely  sent  a  cable  to 
their  legal  agent,  Clarence  A.  Seward,  in  New  York,  asking 
him  to  set  the  American  detective  force  on  the  alert.  He 
was  a  man  of  the  world  and  understood  quite  well  what  sort 
of  men  then  ruled  at  Police  Headquarters.  So  he  sent  at 
once  for  Robert  A.  Pinkerton  and  gave  him  entire  charge 
of  the  American  end  of  the  line.  Eventually  they  unearthed 
the  whole  plot,  secured  the  evidence  that  convicted  us  and 
recovered  the  greater  part  of  the  money.  The  first  step  taken 
by  the  private  inquiry  men  was  to  have  our  friends,  the  de- 
tectives at  headquarters,  led  to  believe  that  they  had  the  case 
entirely  in  their  own  hands  and  to  strengthen  this  Pinker- 
ton  had  the  Bank  of  England  agent  in  New  York  go  to 
headquarters  every  day  and  pretend  to  consult  with  Irving. 
After  the  continental  raid,  on  our  return  to  London  we 
sent  Irving  $3,000  in  greenbacks  in  a  registered  letter,  but 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  239 

in  order  to  have  a  hold  on  our  three  honest  friends  at  head- 
quarters in  case  of  any  possible  treachery  in  the  future  we 
put  the  money  in  the  envelope  in  the  presence  of  a  magis- 
trate and  had  his  clerk  register  it  and  make  it  a  part  of 
the  court  record.  The  envelope  was  simply  addressed 
"James  Irving,  Esq.,  300  Mulberry  street,  New  York,"  and 
of  course  the  officials  in  London  supposed  it  a  private  ad- 
dress. 

When  we  returned  from  Rio  we  sent  another  $3,000,  $1,- 

000  each  for  Irving,  Stanley  and  White,  and  took  the  same 
precautions. 

Soon  after  the  floods  of  money  coming  to  us  in  London 
Mac  sent  $15,000  to  Irving  in  another  registered  letter,  with- 
out any  precautions,  however.  Irving  &  Co.  did  not  know 
what  game  we  were  playing,  but  were  very  happy  over  the 
dividends  past  and  to  come.  But  when  they  read  the  cable 
dispatches  in  the  press  about  the  bank  forgeries,  their  bliss 
was  ecstatic.  Each  in  fancy  saw  himself  decked  out  in  a 
magnificent  diamond  pin  and  ring,  spinning  along  Harlem 
lane  behind  a  particularly  fast  pair  in  a  stylish  rig.  This 
was  their  day  vision.  At  night  each  saw  himself  in  certain 
resorts  ordering  unlimited  bottles,  or  seeing  New  York 
by  gaslight  at  the  rate  of  $100  a  minute,  and  the  Britishers 
paying  for  it  all.  But  the  lawyers  and  the  Pinkertons  be- 
tween them  played  Irving  and  headquarters  for  fools  and 
knaves.  Day  after  day  one  of  the  lawyers  visited  Mulberry 
street,  and,  being  tutored  by  Pinkerton,  gave  deceptive  points 
to  Irving,  who,  with  his  two  chums,  was  completely  hood- 
winked and  never  suspected  the  game  being  played  on  them. 

But  as  I  have  got  somewhat  ahead  of  events  in  London 

1  will  return  there  and  very  briefly  narrate  what  was  taking 
place  there.  Nearly  every  day  Noyes  was  brought  before 
the  Lord  Mayor  and  officially  examined,  but,  acting  under 
advice  of  his  lawver,  he  was  strictly  non-committal.  The  de- 
tectives and  officials  were  convinced  he  knew  all  about  it, 


240  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

and  tried  by  both  threats  and  promises  to  make  him  talk. 
Baron  Rothschild  and  others  of  the  directors  visited  him 
again,  but  our  friend  was  deaf,  dumb  and  blind,  and  they 
were  foiled.  In  time  two  Pinkerton  detectives  had  arrived  in 
London,  and  by  a  series  of  lucky  hits  soon  began  to  let  in 
some  light  on  the  business. 

In  searching  Noyes  the  English  police  had  found  his  gar- 
ments were  made  by  a  certain  London  tailor  who  had  sev- 
eral establishments.  They  brought  the  foremen  and  sales- 
men down  to  see  him,  and  none  could  identify  him;  but  the 
American  detectives  went  over  the  ground  again,  and  dis- 
covered that  the  London  officers  had  missed  one  branch 
store.  This  was  the  one  Noyes  had  patronized.  They  re- 
membered him  as  a  customer  who  had,  wten  ordering  gar- 
ments, given  the  name  of  Bedford.  This  in  itself  was  a  bad 
point  against  Noyes,  and  the  New  York  men  wanted  very 
much  to  make  him  talk,  and  had  they  been  permitted  to 
adopt  the  vigorous  American  methods  they  might  have 
succeeded. 

A  salesman  remembered  seeing  Noyes  or  Bedford  one 
day  walking  in  Mayfair  with  a  gentleman  who  really  was 
Mac,  of  whom  he  gave  a  good  description,  and  taking  the 
clerk  the  detectives  started  out  to  make  a  house-to-house 
investigation.  Now,  No,  i  Mayfair,  the  first  house  they 
entered,  was  the  residence  of  a  famous  London  doctor  by 
the  name  of  Payson  Hewett,  and  Mac  had  been  a  patient  of 
his.  But  Hewett  knew  absolutely  nothing  about  him  save 
only  his  name  and  the  address  he  gave,  Westminster  Palace 
Hotel.  The  detectives  were  elated,  and  flew  to  this  hotel, 
but  as  Mac  had  never  been  a  guest  they  could  learn  nothing; 
still  they  had  cause  for  rejoicing.  Here  was  Noyes  giving 
a  fictitious  name  to  a  tailor  and  in  company  with  an  ele- 
gantly dressed  American,  who  gave  a  fictitious  address  to 
his  surgeon.  And  they  were  well  satisfied  that  whenever  the 
matter  was  dug  out  it  would  be  found  that  the  elegantly 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  241 

dressed  stranger,  as  well  as  the  clerk,  bad  a  hand  in  the  bus- 
iness. Payson  Hewett  stated  that  Mac  said  he  was  a  medi- 
cal graduate  from  an  American  university,  and  said  that,  no 
doubt,  he  spoke  the  truth,  as  he  had  a  perfect  knowledge 
of  medical  subjects. 

Here  they  were  getting  matters  down  pretty  fine,  and 
cabled  all  the  facts  to  America  with  orders  to  look  Mac  up, 
also  his  friends.  This  information  was  the  fruit  of  hard 
work — many  blind  trails  had  been  followed  that  ran  no- 
where. 

In  the  mean  time  George  and  Mac  had  determined  to  re- 
turn to  America.  The  last  thing  Mac  did  before  leaving  his 
lodgings  in  St.  James'  place  was  to  roll  up  in  three  rolls 
$254,000  in  United  States  bonds  and  send  the  trunk  con- 
taining them  by  express  to  Major  George  Mathews,  New 
York.  He  wrapped  them  in  a  nightshirt  belonging  to  me, 
which  in  some  way  had  got  into  his  baggage.  Then  he 
bought  a  ticket  to  Paris  and  sent  his  baggage  over,  wait- 
ing in  London  a  day  or  two  longer  before  going  himself. 
George  determined  to  go  to  Ireland,  and  to  Ireland  he 
went,  and  I  shall  let  him  in  a  later  chapter  tell  in  his  own 
language  the  stirring  events  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  that 
finally  ended  in  his  arrest  in  Edinburgh  some  weeks  later. 
Mac,  before  sending  his  baggage  away,  had  intended  to  sail 
from  Liverpool  by  the  Java  of  the  Cunard  line,  and  he 
cabled  Irving  at  Police  Headquarters  to  meet  him  on  the 
arrival  of  the  steamer.  Mac  went  to  Paris,  stopping  at  the 
Hotel  Richmond,  Rue  du  Helder,  under  his  right  name, 
never  for  a  moment  thinking  he  could  possibly  come  under 
suspicion. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Pinkerton  men  continued  their 
house-to-house  visitation  of  the  fashionable  lodging  houses 
to  hunt  out  Mac.  This,  in  huge  London,  was  a  Titanic 
task,  but  they  exhibited  a  marvelous  activity  in  tracing  out 
clues.     In  a  lucky  moment  for  the  Pinkertons,  a  subordinate 


242  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

inquiring  at  every  number  in  St.  James'  place  if  an  Ameri- 
can gentleman  was  lodging  or  had  lodged  there  was  in- 
formed by  one  landlady  that  Mac  had  been  a  lodger,  but 
had  left  a  few  days  before.  As  soon  as  this  important  report 
arrived  they  flew  to  St.  James'  place  and  found  the  landlady 
a  warm  friend  of  the  man  they  were  looking  for.  The  de- 
tectives were  forced  to  tell  her  their  business.  She  was  in- 
dignant that  any  one  should  so  wrong  Mac,  and  ordered 
them  out  of  the  house. 

They  brought  the  bank  solicitors  and  other  important 
people  to  see  her  before  she  would  consent  to  be  questioned ; 
when  she  did,  her  information  was  important  indeed.  She 
had  seen  very  little  of  George,  but  much  of  me,  though  she 
had  never  heard  my  name,  but  still  the  detectives  knew  from 
her  description  that  the  man  she  described  was  the  F.  A. 
Warren  they  wanted,  and  whom  to  get  meant  fame  and  com- 
parative fortune  for  them. 

The  rooms  had  been  unoccupied  since  Mac  left  and  a 
careful  search  was  made  for  clues,  but  nothing  was  found 
until  she  was  asked  for  the  waste-paper  basket.  The  bas- 
ket proved  to  be  a  bag,  and  when  turned  out  some  pieces 
of  blotting  paper  appeared,  which,  held  in  front  of  a  mirror, 
of  course  would  reflect  the  writing  the  same  as  on  the  writ- 
ten sheet,  and  on  holding  the  last  of  the  lot  to  the  glass  they 
were  thrilled  through  when  the  Pinkertons  saw  reflected 
there : 

Ten   Thousand Pounds   Sterling. 

F.  A.  WARREN. 

which,  when  compared  with  a  canceled  check  of  mine,  then 
in  the  possession  of  the  bank,  exactly  fitted  it.  Here  was  a 
piece  of  evidence,  which,  if  it  could  be  brought  home  to  Mac, 
was  a  chain  to  bind  him  fast  and  sure. 

Pinkerton  and  his  man  started  at  once  for  Paris,  and  going 
to  the  American  bankers,  where  most  Americans  register  on 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  243 

arrival,  they  found  Mac's  name  as  large  as  life,  registered  at 
Andrews  &  Co.'s  as  stopping  at  the  Hotel  de  Richmond. 

Pinkerton  was  not  long  in  reaching  Rue  du  Helder,  and 
learned  that  Mac  had  left  for  Brest  the  night  before.  In 
short  order  he  was  at  the  Paris  agency  of  the  steamship 
company,  and  found  that  Mac  had  purchased  a  ticket  to  New 
York  by  the  Thuringia,  which  was  due  to  sail  that  very  hour 
from  Brest.  He  did  not  let  the  grass  grow  under  his  feet 
between  the  ticket  and  telegraph  offices,  and  there  he  tele- 
graphed the  authorities  to  arrest  Mac,  but  he  had  a  speedy 
reply  that  the  Thuringia  had  sailed  half  an  hour  before  his 
telegram  came.  On  second  thought  he  quite  possibly  was 
not  sorry  Mac  had  got  ofif  to  New  York,  as  it  would  lengthen 
out  the  bill  and  scatter  some  of  the  bank's  money  in  New 
York. 

He  therefore  cabled  to  his  office  in  New  York  particulars 
as  to  Mac's  departure,  and  then  he  turned  all  his  attention 
to  discovering  who  this  F.  A.  Warren  could  be.  Mac  had 
cabled  Irving  that  he  was  coming  by  the  Thuringia.  Pink- 
erton, feeling  that  there  was  no  secrecy  required  about  his 
man  being  on  the  steamer,  gave  the  fact  to  the  press,  and 
Irving  discovered,  very  much  to  his  chagrin,  that  all  the 
world  shared  with  him  his  secret  as  to  Mac's  whereabouts, 
and  that  if  he  would  save  his  reputation  he  would  have  to 
be  on  hand,  not  as  a  friend  and  confederate,  but  in  his  official 
capacity  and  make  a  genuine  arrest — that  is,  unless  he  could 
arrange  to  have  Mac  taken  ofT  the  steamer  in'  a  small  boat 
as  soon  as  she  came  into  the  lower  bay  and  before  the  police 
boat,  with  its  load  of  officials,  came  alongside.  This  Irving 
and  his  two  subordinates  resolved  to  attempt,  so  he  took  into 
his  counsels  a  great  chum  of  his  and  a  well-known  burglar 
by  the  name  of  Johnny  Dobbs.  To  him  was  given  the  job 
of  getting  Mac  off  the  steamer,  but  he  made  a  serious 
blunder.  Instead  of  hiring  and  manning  two  boats,  one  to 
relieve  the  other,  he  got  only  one.     For  a  day  or  two  they 


244  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

came  within  hailing  distance  of  all  incoming  steamers,  but 
were  ashore  on  Staten  Island,  taking  a  rest,  when  bright  and 
early  one  morning  the  Thuringia  slipped  into  the  harbor. 
There  was  a  man  in  the  boat  with  Dobbs  who  knew  Mac, 
and  the  plan  was  to  meet  the  steamer,  and  as  Mac  was  sure 
to  be  on  deck  on  the  look-out,  to  shout  to  him  to  jump  over- 
board and  they  would  pick  him  up  and  make  for  shore. 
Once  ashore  and  warned  they  would  not  have  seen  him 
again. 

After  the  Thuringia  came  into  the  harbor,  Irving  kept  the 
police  boat  waiting  over  an  hour.  Then,  supposing  his  friend 
was  safe  ashore,  he  boarded  the  ship.  There  were  five 
United  States  Marshals  on  the  police  tug,  the  bank  lawyers 
and  some  of  the  private  inquiry  officials. 

Irving,  accompanied  by  White  and  Stanley,  jumped 
aboard  the  big  ship,  after  giving  orders  to  the  captain  of  the 
tug  not  to  let  any  one  off  until  he  gave  permission.  Mac 
saw  the  tug  and  recognized  his  three  friends,  but  was  in  no 
way  alarmed  until  Irving,  shaking  hands  with  him,  hur- 
riedly explained  the  state  of  affairs.  Mac  took  them  to  his 
cabin  and  gave  them  $150,000  in  bonds,  $10,000  in  green- 
backs, which  he  had  bought  of  the  brokers  in  London,  be- 
sides English  bank  notes  and  two  or  three  valuable  dia- 
monds. Then  taking  out  several  bags  of  sovereigns  he  said : 
"Now,  boys,  help  yourselves.  Load  yourselves  down  and 
keep  them  from  the  enemy."  What  a  picture  those  fellows 
loading  up  with  that  golden  store  of  sovereigns  would  have 
made!  They  knew  the  marshals  and  detectives  they  held 
entrapped  aboard  the  tug  would  be  furious,  and  morally 
sure  that  Irving  &  Co.  had  plucked  their  bird.  Therefore 
any  appearance  of  pockets  bulging  out  might  lead  to  dis- 
grace, so,  while  they  hated  to  leave  any,  for  their  fingers 
itched  for  all,  yet  they  were  forced  to  that  cruel  self-denial. 

One  amusing  piece  of  impudence  on  Irving's  part  oc- 
curred when  looking  with  greedy  eyes  on  the  eight-carat 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  245 

diamond  Mac  wore  on  his  finger,  he  said:  "My  God,  Mac, 
I  wish  I  had  brought  along  a  paste  diamond.  You  could 
wear  the  ring  a.nd  give  me  yours  in  exchange."  The  ring 
having  been  sewa  by  so  many  he  feared  to  chance  taking  it. 
No  doubt  his  enforced  denial  for  long  sat  heavy  on  Jimmy's 
soul.  What  a  penchant  all  our  honest  detectives  have  for 
gems,  and  where  do  they  get  them? 

In  the  mean  time  a  storm  was  raging  among  the  rival  offi- 
cers, who  did  not  relish  being  duped,  and  finally  by  threats 
forced  the  captain  to  bring  the  tug  alongside  the  steamer. 
Then  they  rushed  on  board  to  find  Irving  &  Co.  with  their 
prisoner  awaiting  them. 

The  marshals  went  to  the  cabin  and  found  some  £4,000 
or  £5,000  in  sovereigns,  but  when  Mac  was  searched  noth- 
ing was  found  on  him  but  $20  in  greenbacks.  He  was 
turned  over  to  the  United  States  officials  and  landed  in  Lud- 
low Street  Jail,  pending  an  examination  before  the  United 
States  Commissioner  with  a  view  to  his  extradition. 

How  the  Pinkertons  unearthed  the  $254,000  wrapped  in 
old  clothing  in  Mac's  trunk  at  the  European  Express  Office, 
44  Broadway,  would  take  too  much  time  to  tell  here,  or  how 
circulars  were  sent  out  to  the  banks  and  trust  companies 
warning  them  to  hold  all  funds  deposited  by  any  of  our 
party,  or  how  Pinkerton  and  his  men  recovered  large  sums 
in  various  places,  must  all  be  passed  over  here.  Suffice  it 
to  say  that  the  fatal  piece  of  blotting  paper  was  produced 
in  New  York  along  with  many  lesser  points  of  evidence,  and 
after  a  hard  legal  fight  Mac  was  finally  ordered  to  be  given 
up  to  the  English  Government  to  stand  his  trial  for  com- 
plicity in  the  great  bank  forgery. 

The  legal  proceedings  before  the  commissioner  lasted 
three  full  months.  The  array  of  counsel  on  both  sides  made 
it  a  forensic  contest  between  giants,  in  which  all  past  his- 
tory was  invoked  for  precedents.  This  extradition  case  at- 
tracted wide  attention. 


246  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

After  United  States  Commissioner  Gutman  had  finally 
decided  to  surrender  him  to  the  demand  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment, appeal  was  made  to  the  United  States  Cir- 
cuit Court,  Judge  Woodruff,  then  to  the  Supreme  Court, 
Judge  Barrett,  before  whom  Mac  was  brought  by  writs  of 
habeas  corpus;  but  the  commissioner's  decision  was  sus- 
tained. Mac  was  sent  to  Fort  Columbus  for  safekeeping 
while  counsel  were  vainly  arguing  on  new  writs  of  habeas 
corpus  and  certiorari,  but  before  any  conclusion  could  be 
reached,  he  was  hurried  away  by  his  custodians.  He  had 
scarcely  time  to  bid  good-bye  to  his  counsel,  when  with  a 
United  States  officer  he  was  hurried  into  a  carriage  in  Cham- 
bers street,  guarded  by  Chief  Deputy  Marshal  Kennedy  and 
Deputies  Robinson  and  Crowley,  and  driven  rapidly  down 
Broadway  to  the  Battery,  so  that  the  large  crowd  who  gath- 
ered to  witness  his  departure  from  the  metropolis  had  very 
little  time  to  feast  their  eyes. 

He  was  transferred  from  the  Battery  to  Governor's  Island 
by  a  tugboat  and  subsequently  handed  over  by  the  deputy 
marshals  to  the  charge  of  Major  J.  P.  Roy,  who  had  him  es- 
corted to  Fort  Columbus. 

The  following  morning  United  States  Marshal  Fiske,  with 
Deputies  Crowley  and  Purvis;  Mr.  Peter  Williams,  solicitor 
of  the  Bank  of  England;  Sergt.  Edward  Hancock,  a  London 
detective;  Deputy  Marshal  Colfax  and  others,  boarded  the 
steam  tug  P.  C.  Schultze  at  the  Battery  and  steamed  across 
to  Governor's  Island.  At  10.30  o'clock  Capt.  J.  W.  Bean, 
on  post  at  the  fort,  received  an  order  to  deliver  him  over. 

Capt.  J.  W.  Bean  then  delivered  him  over  to  United  States 
Marshal  Fiske's  charge,  with  whom  he  descended  the  steps 
from  the  balcony  of  the  fort,  and  marched,  with  a  deputy  at 
either  side,  through  tiled  pathways  and  groved  and  shaded 
avenues,  to  the  wharf  at  the  other  end  of  the  island,  where 
the  Schultze  was  awaiting  his  arrival.  A  large  crowd  of 
spectators,  soldiers  and  civilians  lined  the  wharf,  lingering 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT. 


247 


anxiously  to  see  him  off.  But  he  walked  very  leisurely, 
smoked,  laughed  and  appeared  in  a  state  of  unaccountable 
good  humor. 

It  was  nearly  1 1  o'clock  when  the  Schultze  steamed  away 
from  Governor's  Island  wharf  and  whistled  and  rattled  down 
the  Bay  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  Minnesota,  which  lay  at 
anchor  during  the  forenoon  near  Pier  46,  North  River,  and 
did  not  sail  until  some  minutes  after  12  o'clock.  The 
Schultze  meantime  waited,  steaming  around  the  lower  bay 
until  the  Minnesota  arrived.  The  steam  tug  neared  the 
bulky  and  huge  vessel,  and  Mac  was  finally  taken  on  board 
by  United  States  Marshal  Fiske  and  Deputy  Marshals  Rob- 
inson, Crowley  and  Colfax,  and  given  into  the  custody  of 
the  English  detectives,  Sergts.  Webb  and  Hancock,  who  in 
return  gave  the  usual  receipt  to  Marshal  Fiske. 

For  the  present,  I  leave  Mac  on  the  Atlantic,  sailing  swift- 
ly eastward,  to  meet  his  terrible  doom. 


DRAWING    STOXE. 


•4 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE     IRONY    OF    FATE. 

In  this  chapter  I  give  in  his  own  words  George's  account 
of  his  flight  from  London  and  his  arrest. 

"Without  the  remotest  suspicion  that  my  right  name  was 
known  or  that  anything  had  been  discovered  to  show  my 
connection  with  the  fraud,  I  resolved  to  take  the  steamer 
Atlantic  of  the  White  Star  line  at  Queenstown  for  New  York. 
Knowing  that  all  the  railway  stations  in  London  were  being 
watched,  and  that  any  man  buying  a  ticket  for  America 
might  have  to  give  an  account  of  himself,  I  sent  a  porter  to 
purchase  a  ticket  for  Dubliln  via  Holyhead.  I  intended 
taking  the  9  p.  m.  mail  train,  and,  as  a  precaution,  I  waited 
until  the  last  moment,  after  the  passengers  were  on  board, 
and  the  waiting-room  doors  shut.  As  the  mail  was  being 
transferred  from  the  wagons  to  the  train,  I  took  the  oppor- 
tunitv  to  walk  through  the  big  gate  unobserved  amid  the 
rush  and  confusion.  The  car  doors  were  all  locked,  but  on 
showing  rny  ticket  to  a  guard  (conductor)  he  let  me  into  a 
compartment,  no  doubt  supposing  that  I  had  obtained  ad- 
mission to  the  station  from  the  waiting-room  and  had  been 
loitering  about.  The  same  was  probably  the  case  with  the 
two  or  three  other  men  looking  out  of  the  waiting-room 
window  at  the  platform,  whom  I  judged  to  be  detectives. 
The  train  rolled  out  of  the  station,  and  soon  I  was  leaving 
London  behind  at  the  rate  of  fifty  miles  an  hour.  After  mid- 
night we  took  the  steamer  at  Holyhead  and  arrived  at  Dub- 
(248) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  249 

lin  about  7  a.  m.  I  should  not  have  felt  so  comfortable 
throughout  this  night's  journey  had  I  known  that  the  tele- 
graph was  flashing  in  all  directions  five  thousand  pounds 
reward  for  my  capture. 

"A  whole  column  regarding  myself  and  my  supposed 
movements  w^s  published  in  the  Dublin  papers  of  that 
morning.  Not  suspecting  they  contained  'news'  regarding 
me,  I  neglected  purchasing  one,  and,  remaining  ignorant 
of  my  imminent  danger,  took  the  train  for  Cork,  where  I 
arrived  about  4  p.  m.  I  had  two  or  three  London  papers 
of  the  previous  day  in  my  hand  as  I  left  the  station.  I  had 
never  been  in  Cork  until  then,  and  as  I  passed  into  the  street 
two  detectives,  who  were  watching  the  passengers,  turned 
and  followed  me.  A  few  yards  from  the  station  one  of  them 
stepped  up  by  my  side  and  said: 

"'Have  you  ever  been  here  before?' 

"I  slightly  turned  my  head  tov^^ard  him,  gave  a  haughty 
glance  as  I  replied:  'Yes,'  then  looked  straight  ahead  and 
continued  my  slow  gait,  paying  no  further  attention  to  him. 
He  continued  walking  by  my  side  for  a  few  steps,  as  if  ir- 
resolute, then  dropped  to  the  rear,  rejoining  his  companion. 
I  did  not  dare  to  look  around  or  make  inquiry  as  to  the  lo- 
cation of  the  wharf  from  which  the  tugboat  started  to  con- 
vey mail  and  passengers  to  the  New  York  steamers,  which 
waited  in  the  outer  harbor.  Therefore  I  continued  my  walk 
along  what  appeared  to  be  the  main  business  street,  perhaps 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  then  turned  into  a  druggist's  and 
called  for  some  Spanish  licorice.  This  was  done  to  enable 
me  to  ascertain  if  the  detectives  were  still  following.  In  a 
moment  they  passed  the  shop  gazing  intently  in  and  saw 
me  leaning  carelessly  against  the  counter  with  my  face  par- 
tially turned  to  the  street.  As  soon  as  I  had  paid  for  the 
licorice  I  continued  my  walk  in  the  same  direction,  but  saw 
nothing  of  the  men,  they  having  evidently  stopped  in  some 
place  to  let  me  get  ahead  once  more.     In  a  short  time  I  ap- 


250  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

preached  an  inclosure  over  the  gate  of  which  was  a  sign 
that  informed  me  I  had  come  by  accident  direct  to  the  wharf 
of  the  New  York  steamers.  Entering  I  found  the  place 
crowded  and  the  tugboat  ready  to  convey  the  passengers  to 
the  steamer  Atlantic.  Before  attempting  to  step  aboard  the 
tug  I  took  a  covert  look  around  and  saw  my  two  detectives 
standing  back  in  one  comer  with  their  eyes  fixed  upon  me, 
all  but  their  heads  being  concealed  behind  the  crowd  waiting 
to  see  their  friends  oflf  for  America.  Apparently  unconscious 
of  their  presence,  I  threw  my  papers,  one  by  one,  down 
among  the  passengers;  and  as  the  deck  of  the  boat  was  eight 
or  ten  feet  below,  the  detectives  could  not  see  to  whom  they 
were  thrown.  I  stood  leaning  on  the  rail  a  short  time  gaz- 
ing at  the  scene,  then  left  the  wharf  not  even  glancing  in  the 
direction  of  the  detectives.  I  felt  that  any  attempt  of  mine 
to  embark  would  precipitate  their  movements,  therefore  I 
at  once  abandoned  all  ideas  of  taking  passage  from  Queens- 
town. 

"Now  mark  the  irony  of  fate!  That  was  the  last  passage 
ever  made  by  the  magnificent  steamer  Atlantic !  Some  mag- 
netic influence  deranged  her  compass  so  that  she  ran  twenty 
miles  out  of  her  course,  striking  on  the  coast  of  Nova  Scotia, 
at  Meager's  Head,  Prospect  Harbor,  broke  in  two,  then  roll- 
ing into  deep  water  sank  in  a  few  minutes.  Out  of  1,002 
persons  on  board  560  perished,  including  most  of  the  sa- 
loon passengers  and  all  the  women  and  children.  The  ele- 
gant cabins  and  staterooms  became  their  tombs — and  one 
might  have  been  mine.  But  not  for  me  such  favoring  fate; 
a  moment's  struggle  ended  their  sufTerings,  while  I  was  left 
to  undergo  the  pangs  of  a  thousand  deaths ! 

t  continued  my  walk  up  a  hill  among  the  private  resi- 
dences of  the  city,  and,  hailing  a  cab,  told  the  driver  to  take 
me  back  to  the  station.  Eager  for  a  job,  he  asked  to  drive 
me  a  mile  beyond  on  the  railway.  Thinking  I  might  elude 
the  detectives  at  the  Queenstown  station,  I  acceded,  and  he 


A  CORRIDOR  OF  THE  TOMBS,  NEW  YORK. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  253 

made  his  little  Irish  horse  rush  along  at  a  pace  which 
brought  us  to  the  stopping  place  just  before  the  train  ar- 
rived. 

"I  purchased  a  ticket  and  hastened  into  a  carriage,  where, 
lo  and  behold!  sat  the  two  detectives.  A  few  minutes 
brought  us  to  Cork  again.  I  was  not  yet  aware  they  were 
in  possession  of  my  right  name  and  the  knowledge  that  a 
reward  of  £5,000  was  oflfered  for  my  capture,  nor  that  their 
hesitation  was  occasioned  by  doubts  as  to  my  identity,  which 
the  first  false  step  on  my  part  might  remove.  I  did  not  sup- 
pose they  were  looking  especially  for  me,  but  for  any  one  in 
general  whose  actions  and  appearance  might  indicate  that 
he  was  one  of  the  operators  in  the  bank  forgery.  Under 
this  erroneous  belief  I  crossed  to  the  Dublin  station,  which 
was  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  that  of  the  Cork  and  Queens- 
town.  As  I  entered  the  waiting  room  I  saw  my  two  detec- 
tives standing  at  the  other  side.  'Well,'  I  thought  to  myself, 
'this  is  very  strange;  I  left  the  Queenstown  station  ahead  of 
them  and  here  they  are  again,  all  alive !'  I  walked  away  into 
the  most  thronged  streets  of  the  business  part  of  the  city; 
turning  a  comer  I  glanced  backward  and  saw  them  following 
at  some  distance  in  the  rear.  As  soon  as  I  had  fairly  turned  the 
comer  I  started  at  a  fast  walk,  turning  the  next  before  they 
came  in  view,  and  after  three  or  four  such  turnings  I  went 
into  a  small  temperance  hotel  and  took  lodgings  for  the 
night.  There  was  but  a  single  commercial  traveler  in  the 
sitting  room — a  special  room  set  apart  in  every  English  ho- 
tel, sacred  to  the  'drummer'  fraternity.  In  the  course  of  the 
evening  he  handed  me  a  small  railway. map  of  Ireland,  which, 
in  my  subsequent  flight  through  the  country,  proved  of  in- 
calculable service  to  me. 

"The  next  morning  I  went  out  and  purchased  a  handbag, 
a  Scotch  cap  and  a  cheap  frieze  ulster.  My  night's  cogita- 
tions had  not  enabled  me  to  solve  the  detective  problem,  but 
I  felt  confident  that  something  was  decidedly  wrong.  I  then 
15. 


254  rnOAI  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

hired  a  covered  cab,  driving  past  the  postoffice  to  recoin- 
noitre,  and  saw  one  of  the  detectives  standing  in  the  door- 
way. This  sight  deterred  me  from  going  in  to  ask  for  a 
letter.  Dismissing  my  cab,  I  took  another  and  drove  to 
the  place  where  I  had  made  my  purchases,  taking  them  into 
the  cab  and  going  through  a  by-street  which  brought  me 
close  to  my  hotel. 

"From  the  commercial  room  in  the  second  floor  front  T 
looked  out  and  marked  the  farthest  house  I  could  see  to  the 
left  on  the  opposite  side.  Stepping  to  the  desk  I  wrote  an 
order  directing  the  postmaster  to  deliver  any  letters  to  my 
address  to  the  bearer.  This  I  gave  to  a  cabman,  instructing 
him  to  drive  to  the  postoffice  and  bring  my  mail  to  the  house 
I  had  marked,  returning  myself  to  the  commercial  room  to 
watch.  In  a  few  minutes  I  saw  the  cabman  drive  to  the 
house,  and  seeing  no  one  waiting  there,  he  turned  and  drove 
slowly  down  the  street  past  the  hotel,  holding  up  at  arm's 
length  a  letter  to  attract  my  notice — which  it  did  to  my  two 
detectives  walking  along  a  short  distance  behind  him,  on 
the  hotel  side  of  the  street,  with  noses  elevated  and  eyes 
peering  evervwhere. 

"  'Well,'  I  thought,  'this  is  getting  to  be  hot,  and  it  is  time 
for  me  to  leave  Cork.'  I  was  now  fully  aroused  to  a  sense 
of  my  danger.  No  one  happening  to  be  in  the  commercial 
room  for  the  moment,  I  left  my  hat  on  the  sofa,  and  wearing 
the  Scotch  cap,  slipped  downstairs  just  as  they  were  past  the 
hotel,  following  them  until  I  came  to  where  the  cab  was  wait- 
ing with  my  luggage.  I  ordered  the  driver  to  take  me  to  a 
canal-boat  wharf,  where  I  dismissed  him;  then,  with  bag  in 
hand,  I  walked  across  the  canal  bridge,  stopped  In  a  small 
shop  and  hired  a  smaller  boy  to  go  for  a  jaunting  car,  and 
a  few  minutes  later  I  was  rolling  to  the  northward. 

"On  the  road  I  threw  some  small  coins  to  poor-looking 
people,  who  then,  as  now,  comprised  among  their  numbers 
the  most  honest  patriots  and  the  truest-hearted  sons  of  Erin. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  255 

"Seeing  me  throwing  the  pence  to  the  poor  folk,  cabby 
took  it  into  his  head  that  I  must  be  a  priest — a  good  cri- 
terion of  the  estimation  in  which  the  benevolence  of  the  fa- 
thers is  held  by  their  own  people.  And  I  may  here  remark 
that  all  the  Catholic  priests  I  have  known,  occupying  the  post 
of  chaplain,  were  without  exception  faithful  and  entirely  de- 
voted to  the  duties  of  their  holy  calling.  I  had  no  inten- 
tion of  traveling  as  a  priest,  and  when  I  told  the  driver  as 
much  he  would  not  believe  it,  but  insisted  that  I  was  really 
a  priest  traveling  incognito;  therefore,  when  we  stopped  at 
a  small  wayside  tavern,  about  twelve  miles  from  Cork  and 
two  to  Fermoy,  he  privately  informed  the  mistress  that  I  was 
a  priest  who  did  not  want  the  fact  to  become  known.  Ac- 
cordingly the  good  woman  treated  me  with  marked  attention 
during  my  short  stay.  It  was  then  nearly  sunset,  and  as  I 
did  not  wish  the  cabman  to  get  back  to  Cork  until  late  at 
night,  I  kept  him  eating  and  drinking  until  dark,  when 
I  paid  the  bill  and  started  him  homeward,  uproariously 
rejoicing.  I  then  started  for  Fermoy  station,  about  two 
miles  distant,  taking  the  hostler  along  to  carry  my  bag. 
When  within  half  a  mile  of  the  village  I  let  him  return.  While 
passing  through  the  village  I  went  into  a  shop  and  pur- 
chased a  dififerent  Scotch  cap,  the  'Glengarry.' 

"Arriving  at  the  station,  I  noticed  a  man  near  the  ticket 
office  who  appeared  to  be  watching  those  who  were  pur- 
chasing tickets.  This  made  me  change  my  plan — instead 
of  taking  a  ticket  to  Dublin,  I  bought  one  for  Lismore,  the 
end  of  the  road  in  the  opposite  direction.  The  exclamation, 
'Well,  are  you  going  to  stay  all  night?'  was  the  first  intima- 
tion I  had  of  our  arrival  at  that  place.  I  rubbed  my  sleepy 
eyes,  and  saw  with  dismay  that  all  the  passengers  were  gone 
and  one  of  the  porters  was  putting  out  the  lights.  At  the 
platform  I  found  a  cab,  and  by  9  p.  m.  I  was  at  the  Lismore 
House.  After  eating  supper  T  entered  the  sitting  room,  finding 
a  single  occupant  whom  I  took  to  be  a  lawyer,  and  judging 


256  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

by  his  conversation  and  manner,  in  the  Hght  of  later  events, 
I  do  not  doubt  that  he  surmised  who  I  was.  He  was  read- 
ing a  newspaper,  which  he  once  or  twice  offered  to  me;  but, 
not  dreaming  of  the  interesting  nature  of  its  contents,  I  de- 
clined to  take  it  from  him.  About  lo  o'clock  the  gentlema  ■• 
retired,  leaving  his  paper  on  the  table.  I  carelessly  picked  it 
up,  and  the  first  thing  that  caught  my  eyes  was  a  displayed 
heading  in  large  type,  offering  ^5,000  reward  for  my  arrest. 

"A  thunderbolt,  indeed!  For  a  few  minutes  I  stared  at 
the  paper  in  blank  dismay.  It  was  fortunate  for  my  tem- 
porary safety  that  there  were  no  witnesses  present.  'Well,' 
I  thought  to  myself,  'this  is  a  predicament!  How  did  they 
obtain  any  clue  to  me?  I  thought  we  had  covered  up  the 
whole  affair  so  deep  in  mystery  that  not  a  clue  to  our  per- 
sonality could  ever  be  obtained!' 

"I  sat  for  an  hour  alone  in  this  Lismore  Hotel,  utterly 
dumfounded,  bewildered,  paralyzed.  I  had  experienced 
some  shocks,  some  'take-downs,'  in  my  time,  but  never  one 
to  compare  with  this. 

"Arousing  myself  from  a  state  of  mental  stupefaction  hith- 
erto unknown,  I  began  to  realize  the  necessity  of  immediate 
action  if  I  wished  to  avoid  falling  into  the  merciless  jaws  of 
the  British  lion.  I  put  the  paper  into  the  fire,  and  retired 
to  the  room  allotted  to  me. 

"Before  daylight  in  the  morning  I  had  decided  upon  the 
first  step,  and  as  the  lawyer  had  asked  me  if  I  intended  to 
remain  over  Sunday,  I  resolved  to  be  as  far  away  as  pos- 
sible before  he  was  out  of  bed.  While  it  was  yet  dark  in  the 
house,  I  left  my  bag  in  the  bedroom  and  crept  gently  down 
the  stairs  to  the  basement,  where  the  porter-hostler  was 
sleeping  in  a  box  of  rags.  I  suppose  the  poor  wretch  had  not 
long  finished  his  multifarious  duties,  for  I  could  arouse  him 
only  to  a  state  of  semi-consciousness,  and  could  get  no  in- 
formation from  him.  I  then  went  up  to  the  front  door, 
carefully  turned  the  key  and  stepped  out  on  the  piazza  which 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  257 

ran  along:  the  front  of  the  hotel.  Another  shock  was  in 
store  for  me.  A  man  posted  on  the  other  side  of  the  street 
was  watching:  the  hotel! 

"It  was  now  quite  light,  and  I  sauntered  carelessly  up  the 
street,  apparently  taking  no  notice  of  the  man  over  the  way, 
and  endeavoring  to  show  by  my  actions  that  I  was  out  for 
an  airing  before  breakfast. 

"As  I  turned  the  next  corner  and  glanced  back,  I  saw  him 
following.  I  noticed  a  place  where  jaunting-cars  were  to 
be  let,  but  passed  on,  at  each  turn  glancing  back  to  see  my 
follower  the  same  distance  in  the  rear.  I  now  took  a  circuit 
around  by  the  hotel,  but  instead  of  going  in  I  hastened  and 
turned  the  next  corner  beyond — he,  when  reaching  the 
comer  near  the  hotel,  not  seeing  me,  doubtless  thought  T 
had  gone  in,  and  planted  himself  in  his  old  position.  I 
thought  Lismore  to  be  getting  rather  hot,  and  hastening  to 
the  livery  stable,  found  the  hostler  just  getting  up.  He  in- 
formed me  that  all  the  horses  were  engaged  for  the  day  except 
one,  the  fastest  they  had,  but  as  this  was  engaged  for  a  long 
Journey  on  Tuesday,  they  were  letting  him  have  a  rest  I 
said :  'But,  my  good  fellow,  I  must  have  a  horse,  and  at  once, 
with  you  to  drive,  and  there  will  be  a  half  sovereign  for  a 
good  Irishman,  such  as  I  see  before  me.'  My  'blarney'  be- 
gan to  do  its  work.  Scratching  his  head,  he  finally  said: 
'Well,  I  will  waken  up  my  master,  and  you  can  talk  with 
him.'  So  he  rapped  at  a  window,  and  soon  a  night-capped 
head  appeared,  and  after  some  parley  the  master  consented 
to  let  me  have  his  equipage.  In  a  few  minutes  from  the 
time  I  had  lost  sight  of  my  follower  we  were  rattling  out  of 
the  town  of  Lismore  at  the  full  speed  of  a  blooded  Irish 
horse.  I  had  left  my  bag  behind,  taking  only  the  Scotch 
caps  and  ulster  with  me  from  the  hotel.  I  found,  by  refer-- 
ence  to  the  small  map  and  railway  guide,  that  Clonmel  was 
less  than  thirty  miles  distant,  and  connected  with  Dublin 
]t>7  a  branch  line.    When  I  engaged  the  jaunting-car  I  had 


258  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

told  the  owner  that  it  was  uncertain  what  part  of  the  day  I 
should  require  it,  and  after  we  were  about  five  miles  from 
Lismore  I  said  to  the  driver: 

"  'You  say  that  you  are  going  to  Clonmel  on  Tuesday  for 
a  passenger.  Well,  now,  as  I  must  go  there  before  I  leave 
this  part  of  the  country,  you  may  as  well  continue  in  that  di- 
rection, and  I  can  return  with  you  on  Tuesday.' 

"This  pleased  him,  and  we  drove  on  till  about  noon,  when 
we  stopped  at  a  country  grocery  about  five  miles  from  Clon- 
mel. As  we  drove  up  to  the  door,  the  words  of  an  old  Irish 
song  went  jingling  through  my  brain: 

"  'At  the  sign  of  the  bell, 
On  the  road  to  Clonmel, 
Pat  Flagherty  kept  a  neat  shebeen.' 

"The  rain  poured  down  in  torrents.  I  gave  my  driver  a 
lunch  of  bread  and  cheese,  which — of  course,  there — in- 
cluded whisky.  I  also  gave  him  a  sovereign,  telling  him 
to  pay  his  master  for  the  horse-hire  and  keep  the  change  for 
himself;  then  started  him  back,  brimful  of  delight  and  the 
'craythur,'  receiving  his  parting  salute: 

"  'Yer  'onor  is  a  jintleman,  and  no  mistake.' 

"I  arranged  wdth  the  storekeeper  to  let  a  boy  take  me  in 
his  car  to  Clonmel. 

"'The  Green  Isle!'  Well,  I  found  out  that  day  what 
keeps  the  grass  green  in  Ireland.  My  Irish  frieze  and  every 
thread  on  me  were  water-logged,  yet  the  Irish  lad,  my  driver, 
took  the  'buckets-fuir  as  a  matter  of  course.  Amid  this  del- 
uge of  rain  we  arrived  in  Clonmel  and  stopped  at  a  'shebeen/ 
kept  by  the  boy's  uncle — driving  into  the  back  yard  through 
a  gate  in  a  board  fence  fifteen  feet  high,  which  shut  it  in  from 
the  street. 

"I  went  into  a  room  in  the  rear  of  the  sale  room,  the  door 
of  which  stood  open  so  that  I  could  see  all  that  passed 
within,  and,  as  I  stood  drying  my  clothes  by  the  turf  fire,  I 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  259 

saw  how  thirsty  souls  on  the  'ould  sod,'  evaded  the  Sun- 
day Hquor  law.  The  proprietor  stood  in  the  shop  in  a  po- 
sition whence  he  could  covertly  keep  an  eye  on  the  police- 
man patrolling-  the  street,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  out  of  sight 
a  signal  was  given,  the  backyard  gate  thrown  open,  when  a 
dozen  men  rushed  in,  and  the  gate  closed.  Coming  hilari- 
ously through  the  dwelling  into  the  shop,  these  were  soon 
busily  drinking  their  'potheen.' 

"It  was  now  2  o'clock  p.  m.,  the  rain  had  ceased,  and 
starting  out,  I  walked  along  a  main  street  until  I  saw  a  sign 
'cabs  to  let.'  I  went  into  the  house  and  was  shown  into  an 
niner  room,  where  the  proprietress  sat  crooning  over  a  turt 
fire.  She  motioned  me  to  a  seat  beside  her,  and  when  I  told 
her  I  wished  for  a  conveyance  to  take  me  to  Cahir,  a  place 
eight  miles  distant,  she  asked  me  several  questions,  among 
others,  how  long  I  wished  to  be  gone,  and  if  I  were  not  an 
American.  To  all  of  which  I  replied  to  the  following  effect: 
That  I  was  going  to  visit  some  friends  who  were  ofificers 
stationed  in  the  fort  at  Cahir;  and  as  to  her  mistaking  me 
for  an  American,  the  ancestors  of  the  'Yankees'  went  from 
about  Norfolk  County,  England,  to  America,  of  course,  tak- 
ing the  accent  with  them,  and  I  being  from  the  former  place, 
(Xorfolk)  of  course  had  the  same  accent. 

"This  explanation  appeared  to  satisfy  the  old  lady,  and  she 
became  quite  confidential ;  and,  anxious  to  remove  from  my 
mind  any  trace  of  ofifense  at  her  unusual  questioning,  she 
drew  closer  to  me  and  said : 

"  *I  can  see  that  you  are  all  right;  but  the  fact  is  that  the 
captain  of  police  sent  an  order  that  I  should  notify  him  at 
once  in  case  any  stranger  v/ishcd  to  hire  a  vehicle,  especially 
if  I  thought  him  an  American.  But  I  do  not  care  for  the 
curs;  they  are  nothing  but  a  parcel  of  spies  and  informers 
iQ  the  pay  of  the  English  Government;  so  even  if  you  were 
the  one  they  are  looking  for  they  will  wait  a  long  time  for 


260  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

me  to  inform  them,  and  you  shall  have  my  best  horse  and 
a  good  driver.' 

"I  heartily  thanked  the  good  old  Irish  lady — for  I  have 
found  true  ladies  and  gentlemen  among  the  poor  and  hum- 
ble, as  well  as  the  wealthy,  especially  in  Ireland — and  in  a 
few  minutes  I  was  bowling  gayly  along  toward  Cahir. 

"This  is  a  small,  ancient,  walled  garrison  town,  the  nearest 
railway  station  being  at  Clonmel.  This  miniature  city  has 
been  the  scene  of  many  a  heart-stirring  event  in  the  distant 
past.  Here  Cromwell  was  for  a  time  held  at  bay,  and  his 
fanatical  hordes  made  their  Celtic  opponents  pay  in  blood 
for  their  patriotic  and  desperate  defense  of  their  homes  and 
firesides. 

"Driving  through  the  town  gate,  I  saw  in  the  main  street 
a  grocery  store  with  a  blind  down,  and  telling  the  driver  to 
halt  there,  I  paid  him  and  sent  him  back.  I  then  went  into 
the  grocery,  and  after  taking  a  lunch  of  bread  and  cheese; 
continued  my  walk  up  the  street.  I  saw  a  hotel  just  ahead, 
but  not  wishing  to  attract  attention  to  my  movements,  I 
crossed  to  the  opposite  side,  and  while  doing  so  glanced 
back  and  saw  a  car  come  through  the  same  town  gate  I  had 
just  entered,  and  dash  furiouly  up  the  street,  pulling  up  at  the 
walk  a  few  yards  behind  me.  Just  as  they  sprang  out  I 
turned  to  the  left  in  a  narrow  lane  in  which  I  saw  a  gateway 
to  the  fort,  just  within  the  entrance  of  which  a  sentry  was 
pacing,  there  being  opposite  several  roofless  cottages.  The 
soldier's  back  being  turned,  quick  as  thought  I  sprang  un- 
seen within  one  of  these,  and  in  a  moment  I  heard  some  men 
run  around  the  corner  and  interrogate  the  soldier,  who 
stoutly  declared  that  no  one  had  entered.  The  men  then 
demanded  to  see  the  captain,  were  admitted,  and  after  a 
short  time  I  heard  them  come  out  and  depart.  I  stood  in 
that  ruin  two  mortal  hours  until  dusk,  then  walked  out  un- 
seen by  the  sentry,  and  turning  to  the  left,  came  into  a  nar- 
row street  lined  with  small  dwelling  houses, 


CHAPTER      XXVI. 

"EXCUSE  ME,   SIR,   FOR  QUESTIONING  TOU." 

"Crossing"  the  narrow  street  in  Cahir,  referred  to  at  the 
close  of  the  last  chapter,  I  went  in  haphazard  at  the  first  door, 
without  knocking-,  and  saw  a  family  eating  their  humble 
supper.  As  I  walked  in  I  addressed  the  family  at  the  table 
thus : 

"  'Good  evening".  Pardon  my  intrusion,  and  do  not  dis- 
turb yourselves;  but  by  all  means  finish  your  supper." 

"  'Good  evening,  sir,'  was  the  reply  from  the  man,  whom  I 
will  call  Maloy.  'We  are  glad  to  see  you;  will  you  sit  by 
and  have  pot-luck  with  us?' 

"  'No,  thank  you,'  I  answered.  'I  am  an  American — and 
it  is  my  custom  when  traveling  in  any  country  to  make  un- 
ceremonious calls  like  this,  in  order  to  see  the  people  as 
they  really  are  at  home.' 

"After  supper  was  over  I  related  to  Maloy  and  his  family 
several  stories  and  incidents  concerning  the  Fenians  and 
their  doings  in  America,  which,  of  course,  interested  them 
greatly.  When  it  was  fairly  dark  I  arose  to  go,  and  Maloy 
went  outside  with  me.  He  had  previously  informed  me  that 
he  was  employed  by  the  g"ovemment  in  the  civil  service.  I 
will  not  state  in  what  capacity,  for,  although  so  many  years 
have  elapsed,  the  true-hearted  Irishman  may  still  be  earnin;^ 
his  bread  in  the  same  humble  employment,  and  the  know!- 
edge  that  he  assisted  one  whom  he  supposed  to  be  a  Fenian 

(261) 


262  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

leader  in  1873  might  even  now  cost  him  dearly.     When  we 
were  outside  the  door  I  said: 

"  'The  fact  is,  Maloy,  I  am  a  Fenian  leader,  and  the  police 
are  after  me!  I  have  been  dodging  them  for  two  days,  ar.d 
they  are  looking  for  me  now  in  Cahir!  I  have  important 
papers  for  prominent  Fenians  in  various  parts  of  Ire- 
land, and  it  would  delay  our  plans  if  I  am  obliged  to  de- 
stroy them.  But  I  fear  I  must  do  so  at  once  unless  you  can 
help  me.  I  would  almost  sooner  forfeit  my  life  than  to  lose 
these  papers,  and  I  shall  fight  to  my  last  breath  rather  than 
let  them  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  police,  for  it  might  be  the 
ruin  of  several  good  men!  My  plan  is  to  double  back  to 
Clonmel,  and  I  want  your  assistance  to  get  me  out  of  Ca- 
hir!' 

"  'Oh,  sir,'  he  replied,  'it  is  too  bad  you  did  not  let  me  know 
a  little  sooner,  for  the  mail  car  is  gone ;  it  starts  at  6  o'clock.' 
"Just  as  he  had  finished  speaking,  a  car  came  rumbling 
past  and  he  exclaimed  joyfully: 

"  'We  are  in  luck !  There  goes  the  mail  car  to  the  post- 
office!     Come  with  me!' 

"We  hastened  through  a  narrow,  dark  lane  to  the  gate — 
the  same  I  had  entered  from  Clonmel — walked  through  and 
at  a  hundred  yards  beyond  waited  for  the  mail  car,  which 
soon  came  along.  Maloy  being  well  acquainted  with  the 
driver,  hailed  him,  saying  that  a  friend  of  his  wanted  a  ride 
to  Clonmel. 

"After  shaking  hands  warmly  with  Maloy,  I  climbed  upon 
the  car,  and  the  next  instant  I  was  whirling  along — into  fresh 
dangers — in  that  unique  vehicle,  an  Irish  jaunting  car. 

"Arriving  near  Clonmel  I  saw  a  tavern,  and  ascertaining 
from  the  driver  that  it  was  near  the  railway  station,  I  left 
the  car  and  entered  the  place,  only  to  find  that  the  best,  and, 
in  fact,  the  sole  food  to  be  had  for  supper  was  eggs.  Hav- 
ing been  on  the  move  since  dawn,  after  a  sleepless  night,  and 
almost  without  food,  I  hesitate  to  divulge  how  many    eggs 


Via  the  primrose  way.  2Ki 

I  disposed  of  that  evening,  for  the  statement  might  tend  to 
throw  distrust  on  the  general  veracity  of  my  narra'.ive.  Hav- 
ing dried  my  wet  clothes  and  put  myself  into  a  presentable 
condition,  I  went  to  the  railway  station  to  take  the  1 1  p.  m. 
train  to  Dublin.  Seating  myself  on  a  bench  outside,  I 
handed  some  money  to  a  porter  and  sent  him  for  a  ticket, 
which  he  obtained.  There  were  but  a  few  waiting  about, 
so  I  stepped  into  the  small  waiting  room  and  sat  down  near 
three  other  men.  The  one  nearest,  whom  I  at  once  put 
dowTi  for  a  local  policeman  in  private  clothes,  turned  and 
spoke  to  me.  I  replied  with  civility  to  his  questions  until 
finally  he  said:  'But  are  you  not  an  American?'  I  replied  to 
his  startling  question  in  such  a  manner  that  he  appeared  sat- 
isfied. 

"'You  must  excuse  me,  sir,  for  questioning  you,'  he  ex- 
plained, 'but  there  has  been  a  great  forgery  in  London,  and 
it  is  said  some  of  the  parties  are  in  Ireland,  and  I  am  anxious 
to  get  a  claim  on  the  £5,000  that  is  offered  for  each  one  of 
them.' 

"I  told  him  that  instead  of  being  offended  I  was  greatly 
pleased  to  see  the  zeal  he  exhibited  in  the  execution  of  his 
duties,  and  expressed  the  hope  that  he  might  be  successful 
in  securing  at  least  one  of  the  forgers,  which  would  give  him 
not  only  the  £5,000,  but  undoubtedly  promotion.  I  got  on 
the  train  all  right,  resolving  that  I  would  not  speak  another 
word  of  English  while  in  Ireland,  and  forthwith  turned  into 
a  Russian,  who  could  speak  'une  veree  leetel  Francais,'  con- 
fident that  I  should  not  be  in  danger  of  exposure  by  en- 
counter with  any  one  who  could  speak  the  Russian  language. 
I  threw  away  the  ordinary  Scotch  cap  I  had  been  wearing, 
and  put  on  the  Glengarry.  When  I  arrived  at  the  Mary- 
borough junction,  the  train  on  the  main  line  from  Cork  was 
late,  and  I  walked  up  and  down  on  the  platform,  well  know 
ing  that  the  detectives  would  scnitinize  more  closely  those 
who  appeared  to  shrink  from  observation;  therefore,  I  af- 


264  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

fected  the  bearing  of  a  Russian  prince  as  nearly  as  I  knew 
how. 

"I  got  on  the  train  unmolested,  and  arrived  in  Dublin  at 
I  a.  m. 

"There  appeared  to  be  some  special  watching  of  those 
leaving  the  train,  but  I  passed  out  unchallenged  and  took  a 
cab.  Not  knowing  the  name  of  any  hotel,  I  told  the  driver 
I  would  direct  the  route  as  we  passed  along,  and  he  drove 
away  at  a  great  pace.  Very  soon  I  noticed  another  cab  fol- 
lowing at  an  equal  speed.  I  had  mine  turn  a  comer,  but 
the  one  behind  came  thundering  after;  and  though  I  bade 
my  driver  to  turn  at  nearly  every  comer  still  I  could  not 
shake  ofif  my  supposed  pursuer  until,  after  apparently  being 
followed  about  two  miles,  the  stem  chaser  turned  ofif  in  an- 
other direction,  much  to  my  relief.  We  soon  approached  the 
Cathedral  Hotel,  where  I  alighted  about  2  a.  m.,  rang  up  the 
porter,  and  was  shown  to  a  room. 

"At  7  o'clock  in_the  morning  I  sent  for  my  bill,  left  the 
hotel,  went  direct  to  the  'Jew'  quarters,  and  purchased  a  valise 
and  some  second-hand  clothes.  Noticing  the  old  Jewess'  looks 
of  curiosity  at  seeing  one  of  my  appearance  making  such 
purchases,  I  remarked:  'A  Fenian  friend  has  got  himself  into 
a  scrape,  and  the  police  are  after  him ;  so  I  am  going  to  get 
him  out  of  the  country,  and  wish  to  let  him  have  some  things 
that  do  not  have  too  new  a  look.'  At  hearing  those  (in  Ire- 
land) magic  words,  'Fenian,'  'police,'  she  became  all  smiles, 
let  me  fill  the  valise  with  old  garments  at  my  own  price,  and 
at  starting  said :  'God  bless  you !  May  you  have  good  luck, 
and  get  oflf  safe  to  America!' 

"I  then  went  to  a  more  pretentious  locality,  where  I  pro- 
cured a  silk  hat  draped  with  mourning  crape,  put  the  Glen- 
garry in  my  pocket,  and  became  a  Frenchman.  At  this  mo- 
ment I  discovered  that  I  had  left  in  my  room  at  the  hotel  a 
large  silk  neck-wrapper  on  which  were  embroidered  my  ini- 
tials.    I  immediately  stepped  into  a  shop  and  left  my  new 


yz:.  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  265 

purchases,  resuming  the  Scotch  cap,  and  started  for  the  ho- 
tel (where  I  had  given  no  name),  to  secure  the  dangerous 
article  left  behind.  Coming  in  sight  of  the  hotel,  I  saw  a  man 
stationed  opposite,  leaning  on  a  cane,  who  appeared  to  be 
watching  the  house.  As  I  approached  nearer  he  kept  his 
eyes  covertly  fixed  upon  me ;  therefore,  instead  of  entering  the 
hotel,  I  walked  past  it  and  turned  the  next  corner,  glancing 
backward  as  I  did  so,  and,  to  my  dismay,  saw  the  man  fol- 
lowing me.  I  now  adopted  the  same  plan  of  action  that  suc- 
ceeded so  well  at  Cork,  and  in  half  an  hour  I  had  shaken  him 
off  and  returned  to  the  place  where  I  had  left  rny  new  silk 
hat  and  valise.  Donning  the  hat,  with  valise  in  hand,  I  was 
soon  seated  in  an  Irish  jaunting  car,  on  my  way  to  a  station 
about  ten  miles  out  on  the  railway  to  Belfast. 

"Upon  reflection  I  was  satisfied  that  the  chambermaid  had 
found  the  silk  wrapper  and  taken  it  to  the  hotel  office.  There 
the  initials,  together  with  the  knowledge  of  my  arrival  at 
so  unusual  an  hour,  without  baggage,  and  my  early  depart- 
ure, had  aroused  suspicion,  and  the  police  had  been  notified. 
At  about  1 1  o'clock  I  arrived  at  the  station,  and  going  into 
a  store  paid  my  Dublin  cabman  and  called  for  lunch.  About 
five  minutes  before  the  train  was  due  from  Dublin  I  walked 
into  the  empty  station,  presented  myself  at  the  ticket  office, 
and  said:  Tarlez  vous  Francais,  Monsieur?'  and  received 
the  reply,  'No.'  I  then  said  in  a  mongrel  of  French  and 
English  that  I  wished  for  a  ticket  to  Drogheda — not  daring 
to  purchase  one  through  Belfast.  Supposing  me  to  be  a 
French  gentleman,  he  was  very  polite  and  ordered  the  porter 
to  take  my  baggage  to  the  platform.  There  I  found  myself 
the  solitary  waiting  passenger.  As  the  train  approached  I 
saw  a  pair  of  heads  projecting  from  the  carriage  windows, 
eagerly  scanning  the  platform.  Two  men  jumped  off,  and, 
hastening  to  the  station  master-  began  to  talk  to  him  in  an 
excited  manner,  all  the  time  glancing  toward  me.  As  I 
passed  near  the  group  to  get  on  the  train,  I  heard  the  agent 


266  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

say :  'He  is  a  Frenchman.'  No  doubt  he  informed  them  thai 
I  had  purchased  a  ticket  to  a  way  station  only — a  fact  that 
would  naturally  allay  suspicion.  At  the  next  stopping  place 
they  actually  arrested  a  man,  but  went  no  further. 

"I  afterward  ascertained  that  twelve  men  were  arrested  on 
that  and  the  preceding  day,  among  the  number  being  a 
fraudulent  debtor  trying  to  escape  by  the  same  steamer,  the 
Atlantic. 

"The  following  extracts  from  contemporary  newspapers 
will  give  the  reader  some  idea  as  to  what  a  'hot'  place  Ire- 
land was  for  me : 

"(By  Cable  to  the  New  York  Herald.) 

"London. 
"Three  shabbily  dressed  men,  who,  from  their  accent,  are 
believed  to  be  Americans,  were  arrested  in  Cork,  Ireland, 
this  morning  while  attempting  to  deposit  $12,000  in  that  city. 
"They  are  supposed  to  be  the  parties  who  recently  com- 
mitted the  frauds  on  the  Bank  of  England." 

"(From  the  London  Times  of  same  date.) 

"To  Editor  of  Times. 

"Sir:  The  case  of  Dr.  Hessel  has  been  so  lately  before  the 
public,  and  so  much  has  been  written  both  in  the  English 
and  German  papers  against  the  English  police,  that  prob- 
ably a  little  evidence  upon  the  procedure  of  the  German  (or, 
I  ought  probably  to  say,  the  Bavarian)  may  not  be  unin- 
teresting at  the  present  moment.  Myself  and  son,  a  sub- 
lieutenant, R.  N.,  made  a  great  attempt  to  reach  the  gro- 
tesque old  city  of  Nuremberg  on  Saturday  last,  arriving  there 
about  7  o'clock.  We  were  asked  to  put  our  names  in  the 
stranger's  book,  as  usual,  which  we  did,  and  retired  to  bed. 
Imagine  our  surprise,  on  rising  on  Sunday  morning,  at  re- 
ceiving a  visit  from  one  of  the  chief  police  ofificers,  request- 
ing us  to  'legitimize  ourselves.'  I  asked  him  his  object  for 
making  this  demand,  when  he  replied  that  a  man  named 
Warren  was  wanted  by  the  English  police. 

"In  vain  I  showed  him  an  old  passport  and  letters  ad- 
dressed to  me,  showing  that  my  name  was  Warner;  he  in- 
formed me  that  I  could  not  leave  my  room,  and  placed  two 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  26T 

policemen  at  the  door.  At  i  o'clock  I  remembered  an  in- 
fluential inhabitant  of  the  town  who  knew  me,  and  I  sent  for 
him.  He  at  once  went  to  headquarters  and  gave  bond  for 
me  to  a  large  amount,  and  at  6  o'clock  in  the  evening  myself 
ind  son  were  released.  You  will  remember  that  in  the  case 
of  Dr.  Hessel  four  persons  swore  to  his  identity  before  he 
was  deprived  of  his  liberty.  In  my  case  a  similar  name  to 
that  required  was  sufficient  to  deprive  me  of  mine. 

"I  have  since  received,  thanks  to  the  strenuous  and  prompt 
action  of  the  British  Minister  at  Munich,  a  very  ample  apol- 
ogy in  writing  for  the  blunder  that  had  been  committed.  It 
was  signed  by  the  Burgermeister  of  the  city,  and  as  the  in- 
telligence of  this  worthy  seems  to  be  equaled  by  his  sim- 
'^licitv,  he  sends  me  a  safe  pass  to  protect  me  in  my  further 
travels,  in  case  Warner  should  again  be  considered  the  same 
as  Warren.     I  remain,  sir,  vour  obedient  servant, 

"CHARLES  W.  C.  WARNER, 
"Ex-Sheriff,  London  and  Middlesex. 

"I  now  return  to  mv  narrative.  In  the  second-class  com- 
partment where  I  sat  were  two  burly,  loud-talking,  well-in- 
formed farm  proprietors,  one  of  whom  had  imbibed  a  little 
too  freely  of  the  native  distillation.  The  sober  one  had  just 
finished  reading  a  column  article  on  the  'Great  Bank  For- 
gerv'  to  his  lively  companion,  who  at  length  turned  and  ad- 
dressed me.  I  answered  him  politely  in  broken  French,  and 
he  then  went  on  to  give  his  opinion  of  the  bank  affair,  as 
nearly  as  I  can  remember,  as  follows: 

"  'You,  being  a  Frenchman,  don't  understand  about  our 
-eat  bank;  but  I  tell  you  those  Yankees  did  a  clever  thing 
when  they  attacked  that  powerful  institution.  The  one  they 
have  got  penned  up  here  in  Ireland  can't  possibly  escape; 
Indeed,  according  to  the  newspapers,  he  is  already  in  the 
hands  of  the  police.  I  am  almost  sorry  to  hear  it,  for  in  get- 
ting the  best  of  that  bank  so  cleverly  the  rascal  deserves  to 
get  off;  and  see,  here  is  a  description  of  him.' 

"I  looked  at  the  paper  and  saw  that  it  was  a  fair  general 
outline  of  my  appearance,  even  to  my  ulster  which  I  had  with 


268  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

me  in  the  valise,  and  the  Scotch  cap  which  was  in  my  pocket. 
Before  we  reached  Drogheda  I  had  explained  to  one  of  my 
new  friends,  in  broken  French,  that,  owing  to  my  ignorance 
of  the  English  language,  I  had  purchased  a  wrong  ticket, 
and  being  liable  to  make  a  similar  mistake,  should  feci 
obliged  if  he  would  take  the  trouble  to  procure  me  a  ticket 
at  that  station.  He  readily  assented,  and  by  this  means  I 
procured  it  without  exposing  myself.  The  hunt  for  me  was 
becoming  so  extremely  hot  that  I  dared  not  show  myself 
again  at  a  ticket  office;  and  if  I  should  be  found  on  a  train 
ticketless  that  fact  might  lead  to  closer  scrutiny — the  rule  in 
that  country  being  that  every  passenger  must  be  provided 
with  a  ticket  before  entering  a  car. 

"The  train  arrived  in  Belfast  at  9  o'clock,  and  I  at  once 
took  a  cab  to  the  Glasgow  steamer.  It  was  very  dark,  and  I 
went  on  board  unobserved,  two  hours  before  the  time  of 
departure.  Going  down  into  the  saloon  cabin,  I  saw  the 
purser  sitting  near  the  entrance,  to  whom  I  said:  Tarlez 
vous  Francais?'  He  shook  his  head.  I  then  asked  in 
jargon  for  'une  billet  a  Glasgow.'  Surmising  what  I 
wished,  he  gave  me  a  ticket,  putting  on  it  the  number  of  my 
berth. 

"Expecting  to  be  followed,  I  had  taken  that  instant  pre- 
caution of  impressing  on  the  purser's  mind  that  I  was  a 
Frenchman.  I  passed  into  the  washroom,  Just  opposite 
where  the  purser  sat,  washed  myself  and  brushed  my  hair. 
Just  at  this  moment  I  heard  steps  descending  the  cabin  stair- 
way, then  the  words : 

"'Purser,  a  cab  just  brought  a  man  from  the  Dublin  train. 
Where  is  he?' 

"*Oh,  you  mean  the  Frenchmar  '  replied  the  purser;  'he's 
in  the  washroom.' 

"While  this  was  passing  I  had  put  on  my  silk  hat  snd  taken 
up  my  valise,  and  was  standing  before  the  glass  (a  la  Fran- 
cais) taking  a  final  view  of  my  toilette,  and  snapping  off  some 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY,  271 

imaginary  dust  and  lint,  as  the  two  detectives  stepped  in,  and 
after  looking  me  well  over  went  out,  and  I  saw  them  no 
more.  That  proved  to  be  the  last  ordeal  through  which  I 
passed  in  Ireland.  After  being  convinced  that  they  had  left 
the  steamer  I  went  to  my  berth,  and  being  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted I  fell  asleep  in  an  instant,  not  awaking  until  the 
steamer  was  entering  the  harbor  of  Glasgow. 

"After  my  arrest  a  month  later  in  Scotland,  during  the 
transfer  to  London  and  afterward  to  Newgate,  while  await- 
ing trial,  the  detectives  told  me  that  they  were  in  Cork  three 
hours  after  I  had  left,  and  one  of  them  related  their  ad- 
ventures substantially  as  follows: 

"'We  arrived  in  Cork  Saturday  afternoon  and  were  not 
long  in  finding  the  temperance  hotel  where  you  stayed  on 
Friday  night,  and  the  hat  you  left  behind.  After  a  long  hunt 
we  ascertained  that  a  jaunting  car  had  left  the  stand  some 
hours  previously  and  was  still  absent. 

"  'We  had  a  good  laugh  at  those  blunder-heads,  the  Cork 
officers,  letting  you  slip  through  their  fingers,  and  then 
showed  them  how  we  do  things.  After  some  delay  we  traced 
the  cab  across  the  bridge  to  the  shop  where  you  got  the  boy 
to  go  for  it.  The  shopwoman  was  quite  voluble  about  you, 
saying  she  knew  all  the  time  that  you  were  an  American  by 
the  accent,  and  described  the  bag  and  ulster  which  we  had 
ascertained  were  in  your  possession.  Of  course,  we  were 
now  satisfied  that  we  were  on  the  right  scent,  but  could  get 
no  further  trace  or  the  direction  taken  by  the  cab.  We 
therefore  sent  dispatches  to  all  the  telegraph  stations  within 
fifty  miles  to  put  the  police  on  the  watch  and  sent  messen- 
gers to  the  outlying  places,  but  somehow  you  slipped 
through  our  meshes,  and  nothing  turned  up  until  the  car- 
man returned  at  about  up.  m.,  as  drunk  as  a  soldier  on 
furlough.  After  putting  him  under  a  water  tap  until  he  was 
half  drowned  we  got  him  sober  enough  to  tell  where  he  had 
left  vou;  but  he  swore  vou  were  a  priest,  and  his  evident 

{ 


272  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

sincerity  caused  us  all  to  roar  with  laughter.  This  angered 
him,  and  he  said:  "Ye  may  twist  me  head  an'  dhroun  me  in- 
tirely,  but  I  wull  niver  spake  another  wurrud  about  the  jintel- 
man  at  all,  at  all,"  and  sure  enough  we  could  get  nothiing 
more  out  of  him. 

"  'We  had  a  carriage  ready,  and,  jumping  in,  we  were  at  the 
wayside  inn  by  midnight  and  terrified  the  old  woman  half 
out  of  her  wits  in  arousing  her  out  of  bed.  After  a  while 
she  gathered  them  sufficiently  to  show  us  that  you  had  six 
hours  the  start  of  us.  The  boy  who  carried  your  bag  could 
give  us  no  points,  but  we  concluded  you  intended  taking  the 
branch  line  at  Fermoy  for  Dublin.  We  drove  right  on,  ar- 
riving at  the  Fermoy  station  at  i  p.  m.,  but,  getting  no  trace 
we  telegraphed  to  all  the  stations  along  the  line  to  Dublin, 
and  there  as  well  to  be  on  the  lookout.  Who  would  ever 
have  thought  of  your  taking  the  opposite  direction,  penning 
yourself  in  at  the  end  of  a  branch  line,  at  a  small  inland  town 
like  Lismore?  Why,  you  were,  as  we  discovered  the  next 
morning,  at  that  moment  sleeping  quietly  at  the  Lismore 
Hotel,  and  only  about  ten  miles  from  where  we  were  work- 
ing so  industriously  for  that  £5,000!  Well,  you  "done"  us 
fine  that  time! 

"  'After  you  so  cleverly  threw  us  off  the  trail,  we  could  get 
no  trace  until  Sunday  morning,  when  we  received  a  dispatch 
from  Lismore,  stating  that  a  man  had  come  on  the  last  train, 
stayed  at  the  hotel  and  left  at  daylight  without  paying  his 
bill.  "Hello!"  said  I,  as  soon  as  I  read  the  dispatch,  "we 
never  suspected  Lismore;  he  has  been  there  all  nig-ht  and  is 
off  again!"  We  telegraphed  to  Clonmel,  Waterford  and  other 
places;  then  left  for  Lismore,  where  we  arrived,  paid  your 
bill  and  took  the  bag  with  us.  Surmising  that  you  might 
make  for  Clonmel,  we  looked  for  and  found  the  place  where 
you  got  the  car,  but  no  news  as  to  what  direction  you  had 
taken.  It  would  have  made  you  laugh,  as  it  did  us,  to  see 
the  old  livery  man  stamp  about  and  tear  his  hair  when  he 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  273 

found  how  easily  he  could  have  made  the  i5,ooo — if  he  had 
"only  known." 

"  'Starting  on  the  way  to  Clonmel,  we  soon  had  news  which 
satisfied  us  we  were  once  more  on  the  right  track.  Shortly 
after  we  met,  sure  enough,  the  cab  you  had  sent  back  from 
the  country  store.  Arriving  there  we  took  the  boy,  who 
had  just  returned  from  driving  you  to  Clonmel,  with  us,  and, 
feeling  sure  that  we  should  soon  come  up  with  you,  we  made 
our  horses  spin  toward  that  town.  Arriving  there,  we  saw 
the  inspector,  who  informed  us  that  he  had  sent  a  constable 
in  pursuit  of  a  man  who  had  hired  a  car  to  go  to  Cahir.' 
(This  must  have  been  one  of  the  men  in  the  car  whom  I  es- 
caped by  dodging  into  the  ruined  cottage.)  'It  being  then 
sundown  we  drove  to  Cahir  with  all  speed,  arriving  there  just 
after  dark,  passing  the  Clonmel  mail  car  inside  the  gate ;  but 
it  contained  no  one  but  the  driver. 

"  'We  soon  found  the  constable  sent  from  Clonmel,  who 
said  you  had  disappeared  into  the  fort,  where  a  friend  must 
have  concealed  you,  and  that  you  must  be  there  still.  He 
then  took  us  to  the  fort,  which  was  closed  for  the  night.  As 
soon  as  my  eyes  lighted  on  the  ruined  cottages  I  asked  him 
if  he  had  searched  them  and  received  an  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive. "Why,"  said  he,  "they  are,  as  you  see,  all  open  to  the 
day,  withe  ut  roof,  doors  or  windows,  and  no  one  would 
think  of  hiding  in  them."  "You  are  a  fool,"  I  replied.  "Give 
me  your  lamp  and  come  with  me."  After  a  look  around 
and  seeing  how  easily  any  person  could  stand  in  a  comer 
ort  of  sight,  I  remarked  to  him  emphatically  that  he  was 
the  biggest  specimen  of  a  goose  I  had  ever  seen  in  my  line. 
"I  think,"  said  I,  "you  had  better  go  home  and  play  pin.  Here 
is  where  he  dodged  you,  and  now  he  is  off  again,  with  an 
hour  or  more  start."  We  worked  until  after  midnight  and 
gave  Cahir  such  a  "turning  over"  that  the  inhabitants  won't 
soon  forget,  but  could  not  get  hold  of  the  least  trace,  except 
at  one  place  (Alaloy's),  where  a  woman  said  a  stranger  came 


^4 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


in  at  supper  time,  who  said  he  was  an  American  seeing  the 
people  in  their  homes.  We  cross-questioned  the  man,  but 
could  get  nothing  out  of  him  more  than  that  you  had  de- 
parted. 

"  'At  last  we  gave  it  up,  went  to  the  hotel  to  get  some  sleep, 
which  we  needed  badl}^  and  the  next  day  went  to  Dublin, 
heard  about  the  finding  of  your  neck-wrapper  at  the  Cathe- 
dral Hotel,  and  knocked  about  Ireland  for  some  time.  Dur- 
ing this  time  we  arrested  several  persons,  but  soon  discov- 
ered none  of  them  was  the  right  party,  and  we  never  obtained 
a  genuine  trace  until  you  were  discovered  later  in  Edin- 
burgh.'" 


MARKET    CROSS,   EDIXBL'RQH. 


CHAPTER     XXVII. 

THE    FLOWERS    IN    THE    PRIMROSE    WAT    ARE    SWEET. 

As  narrated  in  an  earlier  chapter,  I  left  England  two  days 
before  the  first  lot  of  forged  bills  were  sent  in.  I  left  serene 
and  confident  of  the  future.  My  departure  was  a  happy 
event  in  a  double  sense.  All  my  negotiations  had  been  car- 
ried on  at  a  considerable  expense  of  nerve,  and  in  leaving  I 
left  everything  in  such  trim  that  success  seemed  certain,  with 
all  chance  of  danger  eliminated  from  the  venture.  I  felt  that 
the  trying  toil  was  now  all  over,  with  nothing  for  me  to  do 
but  to  reap  the  harvest,  and  that  without  effort  or  care  on  my 
part. 

So,  when  the  late  November  sun  looked  down  on  me — I 
crossed  by  daylight  this  time — standing  on  the  deck  of  that 
same  wretched  Channel  steamer,  it  looked  on  a  happy  man. 
T  did  not  know  then  that  success  in  wrongdoing  was  ever  a 
failure.  The  anxious  toil  of  the  London  and  Continental  ne- 
gotiations was  a  thing  of  the  past.  Was  I  not  young; 
wealth  was  or  soon  would  be  mine;  was  I  not  in  perfect 
health,  body  sound  and  digestion  good,  and,  above  all,  was 
not  the  woman  I  loved  awaiting  me  in  Paris,  to  give  herself 
to  me,  in  all  her  youth  and  beauty,  and  then  somewhere 
across  the  Westerp  waters  would  I  not  find  in  some  tropic 
seas  a  paradise,  which  gold  would  make  mine,  where  I  could 
bear  my  bride,  and  there,  turning  over  a  new  leaf,  live  and 
die  with  the  respect  of  all  good  men  mine? 

(275) 


276  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Here  was  a  stately  structure  I  was  going  to  erect,  but  how 
rotten  the  foundation!  I,  in  my  egotism,  fancied,  in  my 
case,  at  least,  the  eternal  course  of  things  would  be  stayed, 
and  that  justice  would  grant  me  a  clean  bill  of  health.  She 
did  give  me  that,  but  it  was  long  years  after,  and  only  when 
she  had  had  from  me  her  pound  of  flesh  to  the  very  last 
ounce. 

I  joined  my  sweetheart  and  her  family  at  the  Hotel  St 
James,  Rue  Saint-Honore.  She  was  an  English  lady,  and 
for  a  whole  year  our  courtship  had  been  going  on,  and  now, 
our  wedding  day  being  fixed  a  week  ahead,  we  all  set  out 
sight-seeing  and  having  a  good  time  generally.  I  now  en- 
gaged the  coachman  I  had  met  before  as  my  valet,  and  a 
very  good,  all-around,  handy  man  he  proved  to  be.  Of 
course*  I  was  anxious  to  hear  that  the  first  toup  on  the  bank 
had  succeeded,  but  I  was  tolerably  confident  it  was  all  right. 
Had  it  fallen  through  it  would  have  proved  awkward  for  me. 
In  that  event  the  Paris  climate  would  have  been  too  w^arm 
for  me,  and  I  would  have  had  to  find  a  score  of  excuses  to 
hasten  our  marriage  and  leave  for  the  Western  World  as 
speedily  as  possible. 

I  had  a  four-in-hand  coach,  and  we  drove  everywhere  in 
and  around  Paris,  once  to  Versailles  and  on  to  Fontaine- 
bleau,  where  we  dined,  a  merry  party.  What  a  strange 
world  is  this,  what  a  stage  it  is,  ever  crowded  with  tragedies,- 
too !  How  absolutely  in  the  dark  we  are  as  to  the  motives 
and  actions  of  men. 

There  I  was,  the  centre  of  merry  pleasure  parties  in  gay 
Paris.  A  young  dude,  driving  my  four-in-hand,  and  yet  a 
criminal,  waiting  in  hourly  expectation  a  telegram  an- 
nouncing success  in  a  great  plot  which,  when  it  e»xploded, 
was  destined  to  startle  the  business  world,  and  to  hurl  me 
from  the  summit  of  happiness,  where  I  was  reveling,  appar- 
ently free  from  care,  to  the  misery  of  a  dungeon,  banishing 
the  happy  smiles  from  my  face  and  the  joyous  ring  from  my 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  277 

voice,  leaving  in  place  of  the  smiles  the  sombre  gloom  of  the 
prison,  and  in  place  of  the  snatches  of  song  and  eager  accents 
I  was  wont  to  speak  with,  the  hushed  voice  subdued  to  prison 
tones. 

Late  one  morning,  on  opening  my  eyes,  my  first  thought 
was:  It  will  be  hit  or  miss  at  the  Bank  of  England  within 
the  next  sixty  minutes.  We  had  engaged  for  a  coaching 
party  to  Versailles  and  were  to  dine  there.  I  left  for  the  drive 
that  day  with  a  dim  fear  that  before  the  sun  set  I  might  be 
under  the  necessity  of  leaving  Paris  in  a  hurry. 

When  starting  for  Versailles  I  left  my  servant  behind  to 
wait  for  the  expected  telegram,  and  to  bring  it  to  me  by  rail. 
We  were  at  dinner,  and  I  was  just  raising  a  glass  of  cham- 
pagne to  my  lips  when  I  saw  my  valet,  Nunn,  crossing  the 
esplanade.  He  entered  the  room  and  handed  me  a  telegram. 
Tearing  open  the  envelope  I  read : 

"All  well.  Bought  and  shipped  forty  bales." 
That  meant  the  first  lot  for  $40,000  had  gone  through 
safely.  It  was  certainly  a  great  relief.  The  next  day  I  re- 
ceived $25,000  in  United  States  bonds,  from  George  in  Lon- 
don, my  first  share  of  the  proceeds.  I  sold  the  bonds  in 
Paris,  receiving  payment  in  French  notes. 

On  Thursday,  the  day  before  our  marriage,  I  had  a  tele- 
gram from  Mac  and  George  to  meet  them  in  Calais,  and  to 
Calais  I  had  to  go.  I  arrived  there  at  midnight,  just  before 
the  Dover  steamer  got  in,  and  was  on  the  pier  to  meet  them. 
We  exchanged  warm  greetings;  as  we  did  so-  Mac  placed  a 
small  but  very  heavy  bag  in  my  hands,  and  they  began  laugh- 
ing over  my  surprise.  It  contained  £4,000  in  sovereigns, 
and  was  stuffed  with  bonds  and  paper  money.  We  went 
to  a  hotel  near  by,  and  there  they  counted  out  to  me  the  very 
nice  sum  of  $100,000  in  gold,  bonds  and  French  money.  As 
they  were  going  back  on  the  same  steamer,  and  I  was  to  re- 
turn to  Paris  by  the  train  carrying  the  passengers  of  the 
steamer  just  arrived,  we  had  only  a  brief  half  hour's  talk. 


278  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

After  giving  me  the  money  we  went  out  and  sat  down  on 
the  pier,  and  that  conversation  and  scene  are  forever  im- 
pressed on  my  mem.ory.  I  shall  make  no  attempt  to  de- 
scribe either,  but  could  both  be  put  on  the  stage,  with  the 
audience  in  possession  of  a  full  knowledge  of  the  enterprise 
we  were  embarked  in,  there  would  be  seen  a  picture  of  human 
life  such  as  the  novelist  or  playwright  never  had  the  imag- 
ination nor  the  daring  to  depict.  To  the  earnest  student  of 
human  life  it  would  have  been  a  revelation. 

There  we  were,  three  earnest,  ambitious  young  men,  en- 
thusiastic for  all  that  was  good  and  noble.  I  about  to  wed 
a  pure-souled  woman,  who  thought  me  an  angel  of  goodness, 
and  about  to  fly  with  my  plunder  and  bride  to  Mexico.  My 
two  companions  were  returning  to  London  to  continue  car- 
rying out  a  giant  scheme  of  fraud  against  a  great  moneyed 
institution,  but  there  we  were,  with  $100,000  in  plunder  at 
our  feet,  sitting  under  the  stars,  listening  to  the  dash  of  the 
waves,  and  talking  not  at  all  like  pirates  and  robbers,  but 
much  more  like  crusaders  setting  out  on  a  crusade,  or  like 
pilgrims  going  on  a  pilgrimage. 

I  told  my  friends  I  should  go  to  the  City  of  Mexico  for  a 
year  or  two,  and  then  meet  them  somewhere  in  America 
where  we  would  unite  our  wealth  to  inaugurate  some  scheme 
that  would  benefit  thousands  in  our  own  generation  and 
millions  in  the  generations  to  come.  We  would  hedge  our- 
selves about  with  kindly  deeds,  so  live  as  to  win  the  respect 
of  all,  and  when  under  the  sod  live  in  the  eyes  and  mouths  of 
men. 

Too  soon  the  whistle  sounded,  and  we  had  to  say  good- 
bye, which  we  did  in  an  enthusiasm  that  told  how  deeply  we 
felt.  We  were  walking  in  the  Primrose  Way,  its  flowers  and 
songs  were  sweet,  and  we  thought  their  perfume  and  melody 
eternal. 

I  again  arrived  in  Paris  at  daylight,  but  early  as  it  was,  my 
sweetheart,  escorted  by  my  servant,  was  waiting  my  arrival. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  279 

It  was  our  wedding  morning.  During  our  drive  to  the  ho- 
tel, radiant  with  joy,  she  told  me  the  separation  had  been  a 
cruel  one,  and  she  was  so  happy  to  know  we  should  never  be 
separated  again! 

At  4  o'clock  that  afternoon  we  were  married  at  the  Ameri- 
can Embassy. 

I  had  told  every  one  I  was  going  to  leave  the  next  day  for 
Havre,  to  embark  for  New  York.  Our  baggage  was  all 
packed  and  placed  in  a  van,  which  I  accompanied  to  the 
Havre  station,  and  had  stored  there.  Sunday  I  purchased 
one  ticket  to  Bayonne,  one  for  Madrid  and  one  to  Burgos, 
each  from  different  agencies.  On  Sunday  morning  I  took 
a  van  to  the  Havre  station,  and  transferring  our  baggage  to 
the  road  into  Spain,  checked  all  of  it  to  Madrid. 

My  purpose  was  to  sail  by  the  Lopez  &  Co.  steamer  El 
Rey  Felipe  from  Cadiz  to  Mexico,  which  was  advertised  to 
sail  ten  days  later. 

We  were  married  very  quietly  on  Friday,  and  our  friends, 
wisely  recognizing  the  fact  that  young  married  people  like 
to  be  alone,  the  next  day  said  good-bye  and  returned  to  Nor- 
mandy. We  spent  a  quiet  and  happy  Saturday  and  Sunday, 
and  on  Sunday  night  we  left — my  wife,  servant  and  self — for 
Cadiz,  via  Madrid.  My  wife,  like  all  English  people,  knew 
little  of  geography,  and  had  such  hazy  notions  of  America 
that  she  thought  it  quite  the  thing  to  go  to  such  an  out- 
landish and  far  off  quarter  of  the  globe  as  America  via  a 
Spanish  port.  Columbus,  she  knew,  had  gone  that  way, 
and  why  should  not  we? 

We  had  an  all-night  ride  to  Bayonne  in  one  of  those  anti- 
quated compartments  used  in  railway  carriages  all  over 
Europe,  but  the  ride  was  not  tedious,  nor  was  the  night  long. 
This  little  earth  had  no  happier  couple,  and,  talking  of  the 
happy  years  that  lay  before  us,  the  night  rushed  by  like  a 
fairy  dream. 

Where  was  my  conscience?    Why,  my  dear  reader,  I  had 


280  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE3 

sung  it  such  a  song  that  it  was  deUghted  with  the  music,  and 
had,  I  was  going  to  say,  gone  to  sleep,  but  it  had  not.  It 
was  wide  awake,  and  we  were  good  chums.  We  both — con- 
science and  I — had  persuaded  ourselves  it  was  a  virtuous 
deed  to  do  evil  that  good  might  come.  My  conscience  was 
perhaps  as  old  as  the  sun,  but  I  myself  was  young  and  too 
inexperienced  to  see  the  fallacy  of  the  argument,  since  I  my- 
self was  the  doer  of  the  wrong;  but,  of  course,  I  should  have 
hotly  denounced  any  other  such  philosopher  as  a  villain  and 
rogue. 

The  night  flew  by,  and  to  our  surprise  we  found  240 
miles  had  slipped  away  and  we  were  in  Bayonne.  Thirty 
minutes  more  and  we  were  speeding  south,  and  soon  crossed 
the  Bidassoa,  the  'boundary  between  France  and  Spain. 
Then  my  wife  saying,  "Now  I  will  sleep,"  laid  her  head  on  the 
shoulder  of  the  happiest  man  in  or  out  of  Spain,  and  in  ten 
minutes  her  regular  breathing  told  me  she  was  in  the  land 
of  dreams. 

The  Pyrenees,  in  dividing  France  and  Spain,  stand  between 
two  distinct  peoples,  and  as  the  centuries  go  by  the  streams 
of  national  life  meet,  but  only  to  repel  each  other,  never  to 
mingle.  One  has  but  to  cross  the  bank  to  realize  that  he  is 
among  a  different  race.  Dress,  food  and  cooking — social 
life,  religious  devotion,  modes  of  thought — are  all  different. 
To  us  here  in  America  it  is  diflficult  to  realize  that  so  slight 
a  thing  as  a  mountain  barrier,  easily  traversed,  crossed  by 
many  defiles  and  good  roads,  should  continue  to  separate 
two  distinct  peoples.  But  so  it  is.  Stranger  still,  for  nearly 
all  time  the  inhabitants  of  the  Spanish  mountains  have  been 
more  or  less  opposed  to  the  people  of  the  Spanish  plains, 
and  every  century  has  seen  several  insurrections  among  the 
mountaineers.  In  1872  and  '73  the  Carlists  held  the  moun- 
tains and  more  or  less  fusillading  was  going  on.  The  possi- 
bility of  my  way  being  blocked  by  the  Carlists  never  entered 
into  my  calculations. 


^  VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  281 

The  railway  from  Bayonne  to  IMadrid  is  ow-ned  in  Paris, 
and  it  seems  that  the  directors  were  paying  blackmail  to  Don 
Carlos,  ostensibly  to  him,  but  really  to  several  marauding 
bands  who  plundered  under  the  name  of  fighting  for  the 
Don,  upon  the  understanding  that  the  railroad  was  not  to  be 
meddled  with.  The  directors  had  been  paying  100,000  francs 
a  month.  As  will  be  easily  believed,  there  was  a  difficulty  in 
the  distribution  of  the  money  among  so  many  greedy  and 
inartistic  robbers,  and  the  discontented  determined  to  hold 
up  the  railroad  itself  and  stop  all  trains.  Unluckily,  the  train 
we  were  on  was  the  one  they  proposed  to  experiment  on  first, 
and  they  proposed  drastic  measures,  too — in  fact,  had  blown 
up  or  down  a  short  tunnel,  and  torn  up  the  rails  in  front  of 
our  train.  As  we  crossed  the  frontier  a  French  gendarme 
and  Spanish  civil  guard  appeared,  demanding  passports.  It 
was,  of  course,  a  sure  thing  that  I  had  them  all  right.  It  is 
a  safeguard  under  the  protection  of  which  the  man  who  has 
anything  to  fear  slips  through  the  fingers  of  frontier  guards 
and  police,  while  the  honest  man  quite  frequently  neglects 
the  necessary  formalities  and  is  detained. 

Our  train  crossed  the  bridge  over  the  Bidassoa  and  we 
were  on  Spanish  soil.  Soon  we  entered  the  gorges  of  the 
Pyrenees,  and  while  speculating  whether  I  should  awaken 
my  wife  to  see  the  magnificent  scenery  all  necessity  for  awak- 
ening any  one  on  that  train  was  over.  Three  or  four  musket 
shots  rang  out,  our  train  was  ofT  the  rail,  and  after  a  crash  or 
two  came  to  a  sudden  stop,  and  then  a  babel  arose,  while  the 
train  was  surrounded  by  armed  men.  It  was  laughable.  It 
seemed  like  an  opera  bouffe,  the  real  thing,  this  motley  array 
of  brigands,  all  trying  to  maintain  under  difficulties  the  g^ave 
Spanish  exterior. 

One  monkey  of  18  or  19  years,  armed,  came  to  our  com- 
partment, and,  pointing  to  my  chain,  said  he  wanted  it  and 
my  watch.     None  of  us  understood  Spanish,  but  we  all  com- 


282  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

preliended  his  meaning  readily.     I  refused  to  make  him  a 
gift,  and  got  rid  of  him  easily. 

We  were  all  ordered  to  alight  and  our  captors  seemed  in- 
clined to  be  ugly.  Myself  and  party  were  about  the  only 
well-dressed  people  on  the  train,  and,  seeing  a  priest  close 
by,  I  went  up  to  him,  and  ascertaining  he  could  speak 
French,  I  began,  in  very  bad  French  indeed,  to  threaten  with 
very  dire  consequences  Don  Carlos  and  every  band  of  Carl- 
ists  who  dares  to  annoy  an  English  Duke  and  Duchess,  and 
demanded  instant  shelter  and  a  guard  for  my  wife,  the 
Duchess.  We  could  hardly  keep  from  laughing,  it  was  so 
very  like  a  melodrama.  My  wife  thoroughly  enjoyed  the 
situation,  and  I  should  have  done  so  too,  had  I  not  had  such 
strong  reasons  for  quick  passage  through  Spain  to  blue 
water  on  the  South,  for  I  desired  to  speedily  put  some  leagues 
of  Neptune's  domain  between  myself  and  the  Old  World. 

The  priest,  although  a  sallow,  sombre  fellow,  was  a  very 
good  one,  and  seemed  to  realize  the  gravity  of  the  situation, 
for,  calling  the  chief  to  him,  he  warned  him  to  be  careful. 
That  gentleman  came  up,  and  drawing  himself  up  said  very 
proudly:  "Sir,  we  are  soldiers,  not  robbers."  I  said  I  was 
very  glad  to  know  it,  and  demanded  to  be  informed  if  I  was 
a  prisoner  or  not,  and  was  told  I  was  not,  but  with  the  same 
breath  he  said  he  would  be  obliged  to  detain  us  for  a  few 
days.  There  was  a  fonda,  or  inn,  close  by,  and  leaving  my 
wife  there,  I  finally  managed  by  a  liberal  use  of  money  to 
secure  an  ox-cart,  and  by  virtue  of  great  generalship  on  the 
part  of  myself  and  servant,  got  all  our  baggage  out  of  the 
wrecked  train  and  safely  up  to  the  inn. 

Spaniards  are  provokingly  slow,  but  by  riding  mule-back 
five  miles  away  I  succeeded  in  seeing  the  local  commander 
of  the  Carlist  forces,  and  he  promised  to  send  me  the  next 
day  a  pass  through  the  lines,  going  either  south  or  north.  I 
got  him  also  to  include  in  the  pass  my  fellow  passengers.  I 
did  this  because  there  was  a  Portug^uese  family  who  had  tick- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  283 

ets  for  South  America,  They  were  then  on  tljeir  way  to  em- 
bark at  Lisbon,  and  the  old  gentleman,  the  head  of  the  fam- 
ily, was  very  weak  and  ill. 

My  safe  plan  would  have  been  to  return  to  France,  make 
my  way  to  Brest  and  embark  from  there  to  New  York,  and 
that  would  have  been  my  course  had  I  had  any  conception 
of  the  slowness  of  the  Spanish  officials  and  of  the  fierce 
storms  and  snows  that  dominate  the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees 
in  Winter. 

We  were  informed  by  many  officials,  railway  guards,  Cus- 
tom House  officers,  Carlists,  etc.,  that  by  crossing  thirty 
miles  south  we  would  pass  the  lines  and  get  to  a  little  town 
on  the  railway  where  trains  left  frequently  for  Madrid.  The 
Spaniards  about  the  place  would  never  have  let  us  start 
out  on  that  perilous  trip  had  it  not  been  for  the  money  there 
was  in  it.  I  had  secured  at  a  round  price  three  century  old 
bullock  carts,  and  in  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day  we  got 
oflf.  I  had  all  the  women  and  the  sick  Portuguese  in  one 
cart,  with  the  two  other  carts  ahead  heaped  with  luggage. 
Thus  there  were  eight  bullocks,  four  mules  and  (unlucky 
number)  thirteen  men  engaged. 

I  had  very  misty  notions  as  to  our  destination,  but  took 
it  for  granted  the  baker's  dozen  of  natives  I  had  with  me 
knew  what  they  were  about.  Snow  was  everywhere,  and 
we  were  mounting  up,  up,  up,  on  wheels,  but  I  supposed 
the  highest  altitude  was  only  four  or  five  miles  away,  and 
that  the  dc/wn  grade  would  be  easy  until  we  reached  some 
snug  inn  where  we  would  find  shelter  for  man  and  beast. 
Then  an  early  start  by  daylight  and  our  novel  jaunt  would 
come  to  an  end  in  civilization  and  a  railway.  But  I  did  not 
know  Spaniards,  their  country,  the  Pyrenees,  nor  what  bliz- 
zards can  blow  in  sunny  Spain. 

Myself  and  my  servant  Nunn  trudged  on  alongside  the 
cart  with  the  women.  It  took  an  hour  to  get  out  of  sight 
of  the  fonda,  and  then  we  struck  a  fine,  wide  military  road 


284  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

that  wound  in  and  around  the  mountains,  but  always  up  and 
deep  in  snow.  Three,  four  o'clock  came  and  still  no  sign  of 
the  summit,  but  with  the  road  winding  in  and  out  for  miles 
ahead.  The  sky  began  to  darken,  and  without  warning 
down  came  the  snow.  Then  frequent  halts  of  the  caravan 
to  rest  the  cattle.  Deeper  grew  the  snow,  and  as  the  dark- 
ness began  to  settle  down  I  realized  the  responsibility  I  had 
unwittingly  taken  on  my  shoulders.  I  had  four  delicate 
women  in  my  forlorn  party  and  found  myself  fast 
in  the  midst  of  a  snowstorm,  in  a  wild  pass  of  the  Pyre- 
nees. I  recognized  one  blessing,  however,  and  was  pro- 
foundly grateful — the  air  was  calm — and  though  the  snow 
fell  thick  and  fast  it  was  not  driven  by  a  storm. 

Nunn  proved  to  be  thoroughly  reliable,  helpful  and  full  of 
cheer.  Between  us  we  kept  up  the  spirits  of  the  party.  But 
all  hands  began  to  grow  hungry.  Fortunately  I  had  in  my 
baggage  a  large  pate  de  foie  gras.  That  is  a  fat  goose  liver 
pie,  and  it  was  fat,  happily  so,  as  it  went  the  further.  Then 
I  got  rugs  and  wraps  out  of  my  trunks  for  the  women  and 
a  couple  of  bottles  of  brandy,  and  administered  liberal  doses 
all  round.  I  soon  had  them  happy  and  full  of  courage.  It 
was  certainly  better  to  have  them  full  of  Dutch  courage  in 
a  fool's  paradise  than  to  have  them  awake  to  their  position, 
for  I  quite  expected  it  would  end  in  a  night  camp-out  in  the 
snow  and  sending  an  empty  cart  for  supplies.  Two  hours 
after  dark  we  came  to  a  dead  halt,  and  my  guides — they 
were  beauties — said  they  could  go  no  further;  the  oxen 
could  not  pull  the  carts.  There  was  a  fonda,  they  said,  two 
miles  away,  but  did  not  show  any  disposition  to  help  to  get 
there,  and  for  that  matter  did  not  seem  to  care  whether  we 
did  or  not.  I  ordered  them  to  leave  the  middle  cart  behind 
and  divide  the  teams,  one  team  to  be  added  to  the  front  cart 
and  one  to  be  hitched  in  front  of  the  mules.  Our  interpre- 
ter was  one  of  the  Portuguese  women,  but  we  did  not  get 
on  very  well,  the  Spaniards  objecting  to  anything  being 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  285 

done,  all  of  them  apparently  waiting  for  the  Virgin  or  some 
of  the  saints  to  come  to  our  aid;  but  as  neither  did,  Nunn 
and  I  were  exasperated,  and  finally  took  the  matter  into  our 
own  hands.  By  my  orders,  despite  the  energetic  protests 
of  the  drivers,  he  unhitched  the  oxen  from  the  middle  team, 
and  between  us  we  got  them  to  the  mule  cart,  hitched  them 
in  front  of  the  mules  and  pulled  out  and  past  the  other  carts. 
Here  the  Spaniards  halted  us,  and  after  an  angry  altercation 
in  the  dark — and  it  was  dark — they  agreed  to  go  on.  So, 
taking  a  yoke  of  oxen  from  our  cart,  they  were  put  in  front 
of  the  four  of  the  first  cart,  and  off  we  started.  Nunn  vol- 
unteered to  stand  by  and  guard  the  stranded  cart;  so  giving 
him  two  blankets  and  a  little  brandy  we  drove  off  in  the 
darkness.  But  not  until,  in  sight  of  all,  I  had  given  him  a 
revolver,  and  each  of  the  unlucky  thirteen  a  good  nip  of 
brandy.  My  anxiety  about  serious  results  was  over  as  soon 
we  started,  and  in  an  hour  and  a  half  we  halted  in  front  of  a 
wretched  mountain  inn,  patronized  by  muleteers,  with  the 
first  story  for  a  stable,  but  none  of  us  were  disposed  to  be 
particular.  A  supper  of  Spanish  beans  was  soon  ready,  and 
then  a  bed  was  made  up  on  the  floor,  and  the  women  were 
soon  asleep.  After  seeing  that  the  mules  and  oxen  were 
fed,  I  took  half  an  hour's  nap.  Then  with  two  drivers  we 
started  back,  taking  three  yoke  of  oxen.  What  a  tramp  I 
had  back  through  the  snow  and  storm!  I  was  very  happy, 
however,  for  I  knew  my  wife  and  party  were  safely  sheltered, 
and  the  excitement  of  action  kept  one  from  being  gloomy. 

In  due  time  we  found  our  stray,  hitched  to  and  started, 
but  it  was  hard  pulling  and  the  exhausted  oxen  had  to  come 
to  frequent  halts.  At  last,  just  as  I  was  beginning  to  feel 
tired,  we  came  to  the  fonda. 

The  snow  had  slackened,  but  the  wind  was  beginning  to 
blow,  so  Nunn  and  I  carried  all  the  luggage  and  traps  into 
a  comer  of  the  stable  below,  and  tumbling  down  into  the 
hay  we  were  soon  in  the  land  of  dreams.     In  my  dreams  I 


286  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

was  on  a  shoreless  sea  in  a  bark  that  silently  and  swiftly 
circled  around.  Dark  clouds  closed  in  on  all  sides,  while 
my  boat  sailed  between  ever-narrowing  walls^^  the  clouds 
still  closing  in,  until  a  giant  hand  grew  out  from  a  ragged 
edge  of  the  cloud  wall,  which,  seizing  the  prow  of  my  boat, 
pulled  it  into  the  gloom  and  darkness.  I  felt  the  clouds 
brushing  my  cheek.  I  heard  the  roar  of  falling  \\^ter,  and 
felt  that  m.y  doom  was  sealed.  I  thought  of  my  wife,  and, 
trying  to  call  her  name,  was  dumb.  I  looked  behind.  Far 
off  and  far  up  there  was  a  glow  of  rosy  light,  and  within 
the  aureole  was  her  face,  full  of  sorrow,  looking  at  me  with 
pity  in  ever}'  feature.  As  I  looked,  her  face  was  slowly 
eclipsed  by  a  cloud.  Then  with  one  crj'  I  plunged  into  the 
sea — and  awoke. 

That  dream  would  easily  have  joined  the  long  procession 
of  forgotten  dreams,  but  it  was  recalled  many  a  time  during 
many  years.  And,  try  as  I  might,  I  felt  it  to  be  a  portent  and 
a  prophecy. 

When  I  awoke  in  the  morning  I  was  dum founded  to  find 
a  blizzard  blowing  that  the  cattle  could  not  face,  and  with 
every  appearance  of  continuance.  In  reply  to  my  inquiries 
I  learned  they  sometimes  blew  in  those  altitudes  for  a  week. 
This  was  pleasant  news  for  me,  and  the  prospect  made  me 
nervous.  It  was  now  Thursday,  the  fourth  day  since  our 
departure  from  Paris.  And  what  might  have  happened  in 
London  in  that  time!  Here  was  I  as  completetly  isolated 
from  the  outside  world  and  from  all  news  about  my  com- 
panions in  England  as  if  on  a  desert  isle.  For  all  I  knew 
discovery  m.ight  have  been  made,  and  full  details  of  the 
fraud  might  be  blazing  in  the  press  of  Europe.  I  began  to 
fear  I  had  run  into  a  trap.  To  make  matters  worse,  the 
steamer  El  Rey  Felipe  was  advertised  to  sail  Monday 
from  Cadiz,  and  to  miss  her  seemed  danger  indeed. 

I  was  a  prisoner  in  a  wretched  inn  in  a  defile  of  the 
Pyrenees,  with  a  civil  war  raging,  and  no  telling  what  might 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  289 

arise  to  detaiir  ns.  Our  objective  point  was  only  some 
thirty-five  miles  away,  but  with  roads  deep  in  snow,  with 
wretched  cattle  and  more  wretched  Spaniards  for  drivers, 
there  was  poor  prospect  of  making  headway.  I  felt  it  would 
never  do  for  me  to  sufifer  longer  detention. 

I  determined  to  leave  my  wife  and  baggage  in  charge  of 
Nunn,  to  put  the  $120,000  I  had  in  a  bag  and  start  back 
to  the  French  frontier,  cross  into  France  and  catch  the 
Saturday  steamier  from  Havre  to  New  York,  explaining  to 
my  wife  that  important  business  demanded  my  presence  in 
America,  that  she  could  follow  on  the  next  steamer  and 
that  I  would  meet  her  on  arrival. 

In  the  mean  time  my  unlucky  thirteen  were  happy. 
For  were  they  not  sheltered,  with  plenty  of  food  and  high 
wages,  all  out  of  the  pocket  of  the  great  lord  the  Virgin 
herself  must  have  sent  to  them?  In  fact,  they  were  winning 
from  me  what  to  them  was  a  fortune.  I  was  paying  each 
man  a  dollar  a  day  and  $5  for  each  team  and  cart. 

From  my  experience  I  must  give  the  Spaniards  a  good 
name  for  honesty.  Of  course,  they  were  charging  me  cut- 
throat prices,  but  they  were  poor,  and  wealthy  lords  did  not 
often  come  their  way.  Aside  from  that  they  were  very 
honest.  Many  things,  such  as  rugs,  shawls,  lunch  baskets, 
dressing  cases,  etc.,  that  must  have  seemed  of  value  to  them, 
lay  around  everywhere,  but  not  a  single  article  was  missing 
during  the  entire  trip. 

All  day  long  the  blizzard  blew.  It  was  a  novel  situation, 
and  how  I  should  have  enjoyed  it  had  I  only  possessed  that 
greatest  of  all  blessings — a  good  conscience!  As  it  was,  I 
was  in  misery,  and  could  find  no  peace,  not  even  in  my 
wife's  smiles  and  evident  content  to  be  anywhere  with  me. 

I  saw  that  the  cattle  were  well  cared  for  and  that  the  men 

had  both  food   and  wine.     Then   my  servant   skirmished 

around  and  decapitated  sundr}'  chickens  he  found.     So  we 

had  roast  chicken  three  times  a  day,  and  as  I  had  a  case 

17 


290  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

of  brandy  in  my  luggage,  we  did  not  suffer.  Nunn  roasted 
the  chicktns,  made  the  punch,  got  the  Spanish  men  and 
women  to  dance  for  our  entertainment,  and  made  himself 
generally  of  service.  About  midnight  the  storm  broke  up, 
and  to  my  great  satisfaction  the  stars  came  out.  That  night 
I  slept  in  the  same  room  with  the  women,  with  a  sheet  hung 
between  us. 

At  5  o'clock  I  had  all  hands  up  and  breakfast  under  way. 
I  ordered  the  drivers  and  hangers  on  to  have  the  teams 
hitched  up  and  ready  at  daylight.  They  all  ate  breakfast 
heartily  enough,  but  were  not  zealous  about  starting  out. 
They  made  all  sorts  of  pretexts  and  excuses  to  avoid  leaving 
their  comfortable  quarters.  Certainly  the  road  was  not  an 
inviting  prospect,  there  being  quite  eighteen  inches  of  snow, 
but  I  was  determined  to  start  one  way  or  the  other,  either 
south  with  the  party  or  north  alone.  After  long  argument 
they,  thinking  they  had  me  at  their  mercy,  refused  to  hitch 
up  the  cattle  to  make  the  attempt.  I  at  once  paid  and  dis- 
missed them  all.  Determining  to  set  out  immediately  alone 
for  the  French  frontier,  carrying  only  a  small  bag  slung 
over  my  shoulder,  and  concealing  the  bonds  and  paper 
money  on  my  person,  I  would  leave  the  greater  part  of  the 
gold  in  charge  of  my  wife.  I  knew  Nunn  would  be  a  trusty 
guard  to  her. 

I  had  not  given  her  any  intimation  of  my  purpose,  but 
got  my  bag  ready,  and,  secreting  about  me  the  bonds  and 
paper  money,  I  took  my  wife  into  a  room,  and,  first  telling 
her  she  must  be  very  brave,  explained  my  plan,  pointing 
out  I  must  not  miss  the  Saturday  steamer.  She  should 
follow  on  the  next,  and  I  would  leave  her  $20,000.  But  she 
pleaded  to  go  with  me,  said  she  would  be  no  encumbrance, 
would  ride  mule-back  to  the  railway,  no  matter  how  far 
away.  I  then  called  Nunn  and  told  him  I  should  leave  him 
in  charge  of  the  baggage,  and  that  we  Vvcre  going  to  set 
out  at  once.    I  praised  his  fidelity,  and  informed  him  I  would 


Clucf  JmMiu  o(  EoaUodl 


I^M^g^    "^^^ 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  291 

make  him  a  present  when  he  arrived  all  safe  in  Ne-Ar  York 
with  the  baggage.  But  when  the  sick  man  and  his  family- 
were  told  we  were  going  they  raised  a  howl.  The  women 
all  hung  on  me  crying  and  imploring  me  not  to  leave  them 
to  despair  and  death.     They  would  all  perish,  etc. 

I  had  secured  a  good  saddle  mule,  but  with  a  man's  saddle, 
and  my  wife  was  sensible  enough  not  to  make  an  outcry 
over  the  prospect  of  a  ride  man-fashion.  She  came  out 
warmly  clad  and  mounted  the  mule,  and  I  strapped  some 
rugs  and  a  bundle  of  lunch  behind  the  saddle.  The  owner 
of  the  mule  was  at  his  head,  halter  in  hand,  ready  to  lead  off. 
The  entire  population  were  out  staring  open-mouthed.  I 
delivered  a  speech  to  my  lucky-unlucky  thirteen,  telling 
them  in  the  best  way  I  could  that  I  was  going  in  order  to 
deliver  them  all  over  to  the  vengeance  of  the  military  chief 
of  the  district.  That  I  should  accuse  them  as  robbers  and 
thieves,  antl  that  they  might  look  for  anguish  that  would 
wring  their  hearts  and  souls. 

They  were  greatly  moved,  and,  pulling  out  my  watch,  I 
informed  them  by  pantomime  and  bad  Spanish  that  if  they 
got  the  teams  in  harness  and  the  luggage  all  packed  on  the 
carts  in  twenty  minutes  I  would  take  them  into  my  favor 
and  resume  our  journey  southward. 

Spaniards  are  proverbially  slow.  But  these  Spaniards  were 
not  slow,  and  a  very  few  minutes  saw  us  all  once  more 
mounted  on  our  cart,  with  the  two  baggage  carts  following, 
and  on  our  rocky  way  southward. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

FEAR  SATS  "NO"  TO  HAPPINESS. 

We  passed  during  the  day  a  military  post  and  several 
squads  of  armed  men.  Poor  fellows!  they  were  wretchedly 
equipped,  so  far  as  garments  went.  Tliey  all  examined  us 
curiously,  but  did  not  offer  to  stop  or  question  us  while 
i  marched  on  ahead  of  the  cavalcade  like  a  drum  major, 
giving  the  military  salute  to  each  party  as  we  passed.  I 
ought  to  have  been  fatigued,  but  I  was  not.  After  about 
five  miles  of  uphill  work  we  began  to  descend.  The  road 
was  a  masterpiece  of  engineering,  and  well  it  might  be,  for 
it  was  one  of  five  military  roads  the  great  Napoleon  ordered 
to  be  constructed  across  the  Pyrenees,  and  it  was  done  in  a 
thoroughly  workmanlike  manner.  "  It  wound  in  and  out 
and  along  defiles  of  stem  beauty. 

We  halted  for  rest  and  refreshment  at  noon,  and  again 
at  4  o'clock  for  an  hour.  At  the  last  place  we  found  some 
Carlist  offtcers,  one  a  young  Englishman,  who  was  a  good 
fellow  and  most  attentive.  He  was  an  aide-de-camp  on  Don 
Carlos'  staff.  He  told  me  there  was  no  chance  of  his  side 
winning,  but  he  w^as  in  it  for  the  fun  of  the  thing  and  in 
hope  of  seeing  some  fighting.  He  had  taken  part  in  a  num- 
ber of  skirmishes,  and  was  by  no  means  satisfied  yet.  He 
volunteered  to  escort  us  through  the  lines,  and  was  evidently 
more  than  pleased  to  meet  an  English  lady  in  the  person 
of  my  wife. 

(292) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  293 

It  was  beautiful  to  see  him  order  about  my  muleteers  and 
bully  them  up  hill  and  down  dale,  not  hesitating  to  use  his 
whip  on  them.  About  5  o'clock  we  started  off  in  great 
shape,  having  some  twenty  miles  to  go  to  the  little  town  on 
the  railway  south  of  the  Pyrenees.  We  had  two  lanterns 
and  a  number  of  torches ;  it  was  a  picturesque  caravan  in  the 
darkness.  The  young  officer  rode  beside  the  first  cart,  con- 
versing with  mv  wife,  while  I  walked  in  the  rear.  We  had 
reason  to  congratulate  ourselves  over  our  escort,  he  being 
a  brave  and  brilliant  fellow  and  evidently  a  person  of  im- 
portance. He  little  thought  whom  he  was  escorting.  I  was 
pleased  on  my  wife's  account,  as  he  was  company  for  her, 
and,  altogether,  she  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  novelty  of  the 
whole  situation. 

We  had  made  a  fine  bed  of  hay  and  blankets  for  our  sick 
man.  Nevertheless,  he  was  a  source  of  much  anxiety  and 
trouble.  At  last,  to  the  intense  relief  of  all,  we  heard  far 
away  the  shrill  whistle  of  a  locomotive.  It  was  sweet  music 
to  my  ears,  for  I  realized  the  peril  of  the  delay.  We  had  now 
arrived  at  the  base  of  the  southern  slope  of  the  Pyrenees 
and  the  plain  stretched  out  before  us.  We  had  just  passed 
through  an  intrenched  camp  that  guarded  the  entrance  to 
the  valley.  Our  escort  had  ridden  ahead,  and  not  satisfied 
with  smoothing  the  way  for  us,  had  turned  out  the  guard 
to  do  us  honor.  We  halted  for  a  few  minutes,  and  several 
uniformed  oflficers  came  forward  and  were  introduced  to 
my  wife  and  me.  It  was  a  picturesque  scene.  The  mantle 
of  snow  covering  all,  the  strange-looking  mountaineers,  the 
eager-faced,  boyish  ofificers — French,  English,  Austrian — 
all  soldiers  of  fortune,  who,  in  the  dearth  of  great  wars,  were 
seeking  fame  in  the  inglorious  civil  contest;  our  torches 
casting  fantastic  shadows  until  the  forest-covered  mountain, 
dark  and  frowning,  though  snow  lay  everywhere,  seemed 
peopled  with  hosts  of  men — all  made  a  picture  never  to  be 
forgotten  by  some  of  the  observers. 


294  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Another  mile  and  our  escort  had  to  leave  us,  but  the  town, 
standing  dark  against  the  snow,  was  in  plain  view.  By  his 
advice  I  went  ahead  on  foot  with  two  men,  in  case  any  of 
"the  enemy"  were  prowling  around,  but  found  none  until 
we  arrived  in  the  town;  then  a  scene  of  great  excitement 
to  the  townspeople  arose. 

We  were  examined  and  cross-examined,  and  our  state- 
ments taken  down  in  writing  and  sworn  to  by  all  hands.  In 
the  mean  time  I  had  made  beds  for  our  sick  man  and  the 
ladies  in  the  waiting  room  of  the  station,  and  about  2 
o'clock  I  went  to  sleep.  The  station  was  fortified  and  full 
of  soldiers,  but  I  did  not  care,  being  told  the  Madrid  train 
would  start  at  daylight;  if  so,  I  would  be  in  time  for  El  Rey 
Felipe,  and  would  be  sailing  out  of  Cadiz  harbor  on  Mon- 
day over  the  blue  water,  westward  ho! 

After  a  two  hours'  nap  I  was  up,  paid  oflF  my  lucky 
thirteen,  giving  them  a  present  in  addition  to  their  due,  with 
a  written  paper  certifying  that  they  were  honest  and  brave, 
and  had  delivered  me  and  mine  in  safety. 

The  weather  continued  very  cold,  and  when  the  train, 
consisting  of  two  passenger  and  one  baggage  car,  arrived 
we  found  tliere  were  no  heating  arrangements,  and  we 
shivered  at  the  thought  of  an  all-day's  ride  without  fire  or 
heat  across  that  windy  plain.  I  determined  to  liavd  a 
compartment  to  ourselves,  for  my  wife  and  I  had  not  had  a 
moment's  privacy  since  the  smash-up  of  the  train.  So  we 
fixed  up  a  bed  on  the  floor  of  a  compartment  for  our  sick 
man,  and  I  put  his  family  in  to  look  out  for  him.  When 
the  train  left  we  found  ourselves,  very  much  to  our  satis- 
faction, alone.  I  had  telegraphed  ahead  to  Btu-gi  s  to  have 
hot  water  cases,  then  the  only  mode  of  heating  cars  in 
Europe,  ready  on  our  arrival. 

The  engineer  of  our  train  was  an  Englishman.  As  it  was 
so  important  that  I  should  not  be  delayed  I  gave  him  a 
sovereign  and  his   stoker  another,  and   asked   him   as  a 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  205 

favor  to  make  time.  He  said  he  would  and  kept  his  word. 
But  arriving  at  Burgos  we  found  that  the  train  from  San- 
tander  going  south  was  two  hours  late,  so  my  wife  and  I 
started  out  to  see  the  famous  town. 

After  a  short  view  we  made  our  way  to  the  Cathedral,  and 
it  was  a  sight!  It  is  one  of  the  many  sacred  edifices  which 
the  piety  of  former  ages  bequeathed  our  own.  One  of  these 
sacred  buildings — like  the  Strasbourg  and  Cologne  Cathe- 
drals, in  the  construction  of  which  generation  after  genera- 
tion of  pious  souls — pious  according  to  the  fashion  of  their 
times — had  given  their  days  to  the  building  and  decoration  of 
the  cloister  or  church  where  their  lives  were  lived,  and  all 
was  done  with  loving  and  patient  care. 

We  in  our  day  may  sneer  at  the  monks  and  brothers 
of  the  Dark  Ages,  but  in  those  times  of  rude  violence  all 
gentle  hearted,  scholarly  souls  found  in  the  sanctity  and 
quiet  of  the  cloister  the  only  refuge  open  to  them,  and  they 
did  good  work,  both  in  the  domain  of  mind  and  in  the 
world  of  material  things.  Much  that  was  "piety"  and  much 
that  was  "faith"  in  their  day  is  termed  superstition  in  ours; 
but  who  will  deny  that  the  simple  piety  and  credulous  faith 
of  their  day  was  a  million  times  better  than  the  restless 
skepticism  and  sad  unrest  of  ours? 

At  Burgos  I  tried  to  get  an  English  paper,  but  none  was 
to  be  had  and  no  one  there  had  ever  seen  one. 

But  here  some  startling  news  came  flashing  over  the 
wires.  Nothing  less  than  that  there  had  been  a  revolution 
at  Madrid,  the  capital.  Amadeo,  the  lately  elected  king, 
had  suddenly  resigned,  and  a  republic  had  been  proclaimed 
with  Castelar  at  the  head. 

I  began  to  see  more  and  more  what  a  fool  I  was  to  let 
myself  be  caught  at  such  a  time  in  such  a  land,  but  still  had 
so  much  confidence  in  my  good  fortune  that  I  felt  I  would 
be  on  time  for  the  steamer  on  Monday. 

It  was  now  3  o'clock  Friday.     We  were  all  aboard  for 


296  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Madrid  and  just  pulling  out  of  the  station.  We  would  be  due 
there  the  next  morning.  From  Madrid  to  Cadiz  there  is 
only  one  through  train  in  tvventy-four  hours,  and  that  leaves 
seven  mornings  a  week;  but,  as  it  runs  only  fifteen  miles 
an  hour,  and  is  seldom  on  time  at  that,  one  must  figure 
on  taking  an  entire  twenty-four  hours  for  the  journey. 
Still,  as  we  would  be  due  Saturday  morning,  I  had  a  big 
margin  for  delay. 

At  last  we  were  off.  On  the  train  and  in  every  group 
we  passed  there  were  signs  of  subdued  excitement.  Between 
Royalists  and  Republicans  sharp  lines  were  evidently  drawn 
which  soon, were  to  culminate  in  bloody  conflict. 

Soon  after  lo  o'clock  we  arrived  in  the  walled  town  of 
Avila,  about  eighty  miles  from  the  famous  Escurial  built 
by  the  second  Philip,  and  about  150  miles  from  Madrid. 
Here  we  got  an  excellent  dinner  and  good  coflfee.  But 
dinner  was  spoiled  for  me  by  the  disastrous  intelligence  that 
martial  law  had  been  proclaimed  and  that  the  Government 
had  seized  the  roads  running  north  from  Madrid  to  transport 
troops. 

Here  was  a  pretty  pickle!  I  was  enraged.  I  saw  the 
chief  of  the  railway  at  Avila,  but  he  was  a  fool,  and  under 
the  unwonted  state  of  affairs  had  lost  what  little  head  he 
ever  had. 

So  once  more  our  baggage  was  all  piled  out  of  the  train, 
and  once  more  we  had  to  go  into  camp  on  the  floor  of  the 
station,  with  a  terrific  din  around  us. 

I  arose  early,  and  looking  up  the  telegraph  clerk  and 
railway  chief,  I  made  them  both  rich  by  the  present  to  each 
of  five  escudos. 

Then  I  telegraphed  Castelar  and  the  Minister  of  War 
that  I  was  an  Englishman,  that  I  had  my  family  with  me, 
and  having  important  business  in  Madrid  I  must  not  be 
detained  in  Avila.  I  demanded  that  he  should  at  once 
direct  the  military  officials  to  send  me  on  to  Madrid  by 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  207 

Special  train.  I  also  sent  a  telegram  to  Hernandez,  president 
of  the  road  in  Paris,  offering  5,000  francs  for  a  special  train. 
Another  urgent  message  was  sent  to  the  superintendent  in 
Madrid  repeating  the  offer  for  a  special  train,  the  same  sum 
to  himself  if  he  expedited  the  train.  I  also  authorized  him  to 
spend  a  similar  amount  if  necessary  in  bribing  the  military 
authorities. 

At  II  o'clock  I  had  a  long  telegram  from  him  saying  a 
train  would  be  made  up  at  Avila.  But  an  hour  having 
passed  away,  I  sent  him  a  message  to  order  up  an  engine 
and  one  car  from  Madrid.  Another  message  arrived  at  12 
o'clock,  and  down  came  am  engine  and  car. 

Our  baggage  was  hustled  into  the  three  front  compart- 
ments. I  put  Nunn  and  the  Portuguese  party  in  one  and 
my  wife  and  I  occupied  the  rear  compartment.  Thank 
Heaven!  once  more  alone  together.  The  soldiers  and  in- 
habitants flocked  around,  and  we  were  the  observed  of  all 
observers. 

The  local  railway  chief  was  more  than  anxious  to  see  us 
off,  as  I  added  another  five  to  the  five  escudos  already 
given.  Just  then  the  telegraph  operator  flew  out  with  an 
order  for  our  train  to  await  the  arrival  of  the  train  from 
Madrid. 

I  stormed.  I  kept  the  wire  hot  with  messages  of  protest 
to  officials.  Two  messages  came  from  Madrid  saying  the 
delay  was  but  temporary.  So  there  I  sat  in  that  musty  com- 
partment, my  wife  by  my  side  and  with  a  heart  full  of  bitter- 
ness, for  I  saw  the  precious  hours  slipping  away,  and  with 
them  my  chance  of  taking  the  Sunday  morning  train  so  as  to 
catch  the  Cadiz  steamer.    To  miss  it,  I  thought,  meant  ruin. 

Hour  after  hour  passed  by,  and  there  we  sat.  My  secret 
cause  of  unrest  had  to  be  kept  locked  in  my  breast,  while 
my  young  wife,  all  unsuspecting,  was  merry  and  happy, 
chanting  little  snatches  of  song  and  telling  me  a  hundred 
times  she  was  the  happiest  of  women.     She  did  not  care 


298  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

for  revolutions,  nor  for  delays.  Was  she  not  with  me !  The 
sun  beg^n  to  go  down  the  sky,  and  the  shadows  fell.  Still 
we  sat  on,  expecting  every  moment  an  order  to  proceed. 
The  suspense  was  terrible. 

At  last  about  6  o'clock  an  order  came  to  have  everything 
ready  to  pull  out  for  Madrid  at  7,  so  very  reluctantly  we  dis- 
mounted to  take  supper  in  the  station,  and  once  more  got 
into  the  car.  But  no  order  came.  The  hours  dragged  on, 
and  I  saw  fate  closing  her  hand  on  me. 

The  night  wore  on,  when  suddenly,  toward  midnight,  the 
operator  rushed  out  of  his  office  and,  shouting  to  the  en- 
gineer, flew  up  to  our  compartment,  said  good-bye  and  in 
a  minute  we  were  oflf.  After  that  long  and  terrible  day  it 
was  happiness  to  be  moving. 

I  had  given  the  engineer  a  tip;  he  put  on  steam,  and  as 
we  flew  over  the  road  hope  returned.  I  felt  we  were  safe. 
At  the  rate  we  were  going  I  should  have  two  or  three  hours 
to  spare.  We  soon  were  at  the  Escurial.  As  fate  wouM 
have  it  we  found  here  an  order  to  run  us  on  a  side  line  and 
to  keep  the  track  clear  for  a  train  going  north.  For  two 
miserable  hours  we  waited  and  no  train.  Tlien  I  set  the 
wires  in  motion  again,  and  just  as  the  eastern  skies  grew 
gray  we  started. 

Soon  after  midnight  I  telegraphed  to  the  railway  author- 
ities at  Madrid  to  hold  the  train  going  south  to  Cadiz  until 
my  arrival,  offering  $100  an  hour  for  every  hour's  de- 
tention. 

Madrid  is  situated  on  a  high  sandy  plain,  storm-swept  in 
Winter  worse  than  any  plains  m  I\k)rthern  i-'Atrupt-  \Ve 
had  a  whee.ry  engine.  Four  miles  out  it  broke  down,  and 
then  I  gave  up  the  struggle. 

At  4  o'clock  Sunday  afternoon,  nine  hours  too  late  for 
■tiie  Cadiz  train,  we  arrived  at  Aladrid,  too  late  to  reach 
Ci"diz  by  a  special  train.    Not  too  late  could  the  tram  liave 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  299 

been  started  off  as  soon  as  ordered,  but  in  Spain  a  special 
train  is  an  unheard-of  thing. 

Mine  from  Avila  was  an  innovation,  only  possible  because 
there  was  so  much  money  behind  it  to  all  concerned  at 
both  ends  of  the  line.  No  Spaniard  was  ever  known  to  be 
in  a  hurry,  and  no  particle  of  matter  between  his  chin  and 
his  sombrero  holds  any  lurking  suspicion  that  anything 
born  of  a  woman  could  be  in  a  hurry  or  have  any  reason 
for  any  such  insanity. 

Here  I  was  at  last  in  the  much-longed-for  Madrid,  but 
not  on  time,  and  I  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  put  in  execu- 
tion some  new  plan.  Had  I  even  at  that  late  date  resolved 
to  go  to  New  York,  I  could  have  returned  to  France  by 
the  Elastem  route,  via  Barcelona,  and  all  might  have  been 
well. 

I  telegraphed  to  Lopez  &  Co.  to  Cadiz  inquiring  if  they 
would  hold  the  El  Rey  Felipe  for  twenty  hours.  They 
replied  they  were  under  contract  with  the  Government  and 
had  to  sail  on  time.    So  I  said  good-bye  to  that  plan. 

On  consulting  my  memorandum  I  saw  there  was  a 
French  steamer  sailing  from  St.  Nazaire,  on  the  west  coast 
of  France,  for  Vera  Cruz,  Mexico,  which  would  touch  at 
Santander  on  Saturday  for  mails  and  passengers,  and  I 
resolved  to  go  by  her;  this,  of  course,  meant  retracing  our 
way  through  the  hated  Avila  to  Burgos,  and  changing  there 
for  Santander. 

Here  we  saw  the  last  of  the  Portuguese  family  with  their 
sick  member.  They  said  good-bye  with  every  expression 
of  gratitude,  and  in  truth  I  was  glad  to  see  them  off.  We 
were  all  very  tired  of  them,  and  they  had  been  a  serious  ex- 
pense. That  is,  might  have  been  serious,  but  as  I  paid  that  ex- 
pense out  of  the  Bank  of  England's  cash  I  naturally  could  be 
liberal  in  the  extreme,  and  gave  a  salve  to  my  conscience 
by  reflecting  what  a  good-souled,   charitable  young  man 


300  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

I  was  in  looking  out  for  these  strangers  and  putting  my 
hand  freely  in  my  pocket  in  their  behalf. 

As  soon  as  breakfast  was  over  I  hurried  to  the  English 
Embassy,  and  there  securing  files  of  the  London  papers 
looked  eagerly  and  nervously  through  them.  To  my  intense 
relief  I  saw  there  was  nothing  in  them.  Therefore,  I  knew 
all  was  serene  in  London  and  that  the  Old  Lady  was  without 
doubt  giving  out  sovereigns  by  the  tens  of  thousands  for  us. 

Very  much  relieved  in  mind  I  returned  to  the  hotel,  and 
we  set  out  to  see  Madrid. 


A   DETECrrVTE    rPENTIFYING    OLD    OFFENDERS    AT   NEWGATE. 


CHAPTER     XXIX. 

I  WATCH  THE  PYRENEES  SINK  IN  THE  SEA,  THEN  SAII. 
O'ER   GREEN   NEPTUNE'S   BACK. 

It  was  II  o'clock  when  we  started.  The  streets  were 
thronged,  and  the  throngs  moving  in  one  direction.  That 
was  to  the  street  hned  on  both  r-ides  with  churches,  whose 
doors  were  flung  wide  open  to  the  surging  masses.  We 
went  with  the  current  and  entered  a  famous  church  which 
was  crowded  wath  the  pious,  their  souls  rapt  in  their  devo- 
tion. Like  all  European  churches,  there  were  no  seats, 
but  the  audience,  closely  packed,  knelt  or  stood.  We 
joined  the  worshipers,  but  looked  around  with  curious  eyes. 
When  the  prayers  were  ended  the  street  w^as  one  living  mass 
of  people,  all  moving  toward  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  We 
went  with  the  tide,  and  with  the  tide  entered  the  arena,  where 
a  bull  fight  was  on — curious  transition  from  church  to  arena. 
It  was  a  great  sight — I  mean  that  of  seeing  the  people — 
there  were  15,000  present  in  that  amphitheatre.  It  looked 
just  like  the  old  Roman  arena,  and  to  us  was  in  all  its  details 
intensely  interesting. 

On  ]\Ionday  we  visited  the  picture  galleries  and  museums, 
and  on  Tuesday  we  got  our  baggage  down  to  the  depot 
once  more,  and  purchasing  our  tickets  we  were  oflf  for 
Santander.  I  was  too  anxious  to  enjoy  the  scenery.  We 
were  a  day  and  a  night  on  the  journey,  and  arriving  on 
Wednesday  I  still  had  before  me  three  days  of  anxiety. 

Being  thoroughly  sick  of  Spain,  I  longed  to  be  on  blue 

(301) 


302  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

water  with  our  good  ship's  prow  pointed  to  the  Western 
World.  Then  I  felt  I  could  begin  to  enjoy  life.  I  had  a 
charming  wife — delightful  companion — and  once  up  anchor 
all  my  haunting  fears  would  die,  and  life's  pleasures  would 
be  mine  to  the  full.  But  there  in  Santander  the  time  dragged 
wearily.  To  be  sure,  I  had  the  English  papers,  but  they 
were  nearly  a  week  on  the  way,  and  a  bad  conscience  finds 
many  a  cause  for  fear.  I  was  aching  to  be  aboard.  Saturday 
came  at  last,  and  going  early  down,  to  the  headland  at  the 
harbor's  mouth,  with  my  field  glass  I  anxiously  scanned  the 
Bay  of  Biscay  to  see  if  I  could  discern  an3^where  on  the 
horizon  the  smoke  of  the  approaching  steamer.  Lingering 
there  until  the  dinner  hour,  I  hastened  to  the  hotel. 

My  wife  was  merry  and  happy.  I  was  glad  to  see  her  so, 
and  found  it  difficult  to  conceal  my  solicitude.  Going  both 
together  to  the  headland  we  spent  most  of  the  afternoon 
there.  Night  and  then  midnight  came,  and  no  steamer's 
lights  flashed  in  the  dark  waters  of  the  bay.  Heartsick  and 
anxious  I  went  to  bed,  half  resolved  to  take  my  wife  into  my 
confidence,  tell  her  in  some  measure  the  truth,  and  point 
out  to  her  the  necessity  of  my  taking  flight,  leaving  her  to 
follow  at  her  leisure.  It  would  have  been  a  terrible  shock  to 
her,  but  I  began  to  fear  that  the  truth  would  come  to  her 
ears  some  time. 

Early  the  next  morning  my  servant  awoke  me, .  asking 
me  to  look  out  of  the  window.  I  ran  to  it,  and  looking 
out,  there  in  the  bay,  just  in  front  of  the  hotel,  lay  a  steamer 
of  the  largest  size  and  magnificent  in  her  beauty.  It  was 
a  happy  sight  for  me. 

Nunn  hired  a  boat  for  our  luggage  and  a  second  for  me, 
and  then,  after  a  hurried  breakfast,  we  boarded  the  steamer, 
Nunn  following  with  the  baggage.  Among  other  things  I 
had  a  favorite  dressing  case,  and  had  given  the  servant 
strict  orders  to  keep  it  under  his  eye,  but  as  soon  as  he 
came  aboard  he  inquired  in  great  agitation  if  I  had  brought 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  303 

it  off  with  me.  Upon  my  saying  no  he  was  quite  overcome, 
at  the  same  time  explaining  that  he  had  laid  it  on  top  of  the 
baggage  in  front  of  the  hotel,  and  some  one  had  stolen  it. 
While  he  was  speaking  a  passenger  came  walking  by  with 
the  identical  case  in  his  hand.  Nunn  flew  at  the  man  and 
seized  both  him  and  the  bag,  and  sure  enough  he  had  the 
thief,  but  I  ordered  him  to  let  the  man  go,  and  he  went 
away  shamefaced  enough.  He  little  thought  when  stealing 
the  bag  that  the  owner  was  going  on  the  same  steamer.  At 
last  we  were  afloat,  and  now  I  was  all  eagerness  to  hear  the 
steam  monkey  start  to  bring  the  anchor  a-peak.  It  is 
simply  amazing  how  a  bad  conscience  "moldeth  goblins  swift 
as  frenzy's  thought."  Even  as  I  stood  tliere  I  was  not  at 
rest,  but  was  impatient  and  suspicious  of  every  movement 
from  the  shore.  As  the  long  day  dragged  slowly  on  and  4 
o'clock  came,  preparations  for  getting  under  way  were 
going  rapidly  forward.  I  took  my  field  glasses,  stationed 
myself  on  the  after  deck  and  anxiously-  scrutinized  every 
boat  leaving  the  shore.  Suddenly  a  boat  started  out  from 
the  head  of  the  bay,  pulled  steadily  by  eight  rowers,  and  my 
conscience  told  me  it  meant  danger,  but  the  boatmen  pulled 
down  along  the  shore,  then  suddenly  stopped,  and  I  could 
see  that  they  were  passing  a  bottle  around,  taking  a  drink. 
Soon  I  discovered  a  heap  on  the  stern,  which  on  closer  in- 
spection proved  to  be  nets,  and  my  fears  boiled  down  showed 
me  they  were  simply  fishermen  and  I  an  ass  and  somewhat 
ashamed  of  myself.  I  felt  I  had  really  no  cause  for  fear, 
even  had  the  steamer  remained  in  harbor  for  a  week.  Just 
then,  with  a  mighty  throb,  the  screw  gave  a  turn,  and  it 
was  music  to  my  ears.  Then  the  waters  of  the  bay  were 
churned  into  yeasty  waves.  The  city  and  shores  seemed  to 
glide  by  and  our  prow  was  pointed  direct  to  the  blue  sea 
rolling  beyond.  Soon  the  joyous  billows  were  toying  with 
our  ship,  and  huge  as  it  was  were  tossing  it  as  lightly  and 
easily  as  a  child  a  toy. 


304  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

But,  still  ill  at  ease,  I  walked  the  deck  restless  and 
unhappy. 

I  no  longer  feared  arrest,  was  confident  that  never  would 
hand  of  human  justice  be  laid  on  me,  but  I  dimly  felt  that 
there  was  a  divine  justice  which  would  exact  retribution.  I 
felt  that  if  there  was  mind  behind  this  frame  of  matter  we  see, 
then  He  who  made  the  natural  law  and  decreed  a  penalty 
for  every  infraction  must  have  made  an  infallible  decree  for 
every  violation  against  the  moral  law.  If  so,  where  could 
we  poor  insects  go  or  hide,  or  how  scheme  or  dodge  to 
escape  the  divine  vengeance? 

But  as  I  stood  on  the  deck  that  night  and  watched  the 
mountains  sink  into  the  sea  I  felt  this  all  dimly,  and  tried  to 
shake  oflf  the  feeling.  I  stood  fascinated,  with  many  con- 
flicting emotions  sweeping  through  my  mind,  sadly  watch- 
ing the  receding  shores  of  Spain,  and  just  as  the  highest 
mountains  were  sinking  in  the  sea  my  servant  appearing  at 
my  side  informed  me  that  dinner  was  ready  and  my  wife 
waiting.  Sending  him  away  and  turning  my  face  to  the  land, 
I  strained  my  eyes  through  the  gathering  gloom  to  discern 
the  distant  shore.  Then  with  a  bitter  feeling  in  my  heart 
I  set  out  for  the  saloon,  but  stopped  and  quoting  these  lines — 

"The  day  of  my  destiny  is  over, 
And  the  star  of  my  fate  hath  declined  " 

— ^went  below. 

Soon,  under  the  warming  influence  of  wine,  forgetting  all 
my  forebodings  and  looking  into  my  wife's  face  beaming 
with  love  and  content,  I  could  not  refrain  from  saying  to  my- 
self: I  am  a  fool  to  doubt  that  happiness  is  mine.  Am  I  not 
Fortune's  favorite?  With  love,  youth,  enthusiasm,  health 
and  wealth  on  my  side,  what  else  save  happy  days  and 
nights  and  long  years  filled  with  content  can  be  mine? 

So,  shaking  oflf  my  forebodings,  the  eighteen  days  of  our 
voyage  over  green  Neptune's  back  were  ideal,  and  we 
became  objects  of  envy  to  all  the  passengers. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  807 

Our  ship  was  the  Martinique,  with  French  officers  and 
crew,  and  a  fine,  manly  lot  of  men  they  were.  The  passengers 
were  mostly  colonial  people  returning  home  to  the  French 
colonies  in  the  West  Indies.  They  were  nice,  refined  people, 
but  we  were  rather  reserved  and  kept  to  ourselves.  One  of 
the  passengers  had  a  dozen  Spanish  fighting  cocks,  and 
they  afforded  us  much  amusement.  There  were  frequent 
mains  on  thel  after  deck  and  sometimes  on  the  dinner  table. 
These  were  very  popular,  particularly  with  the  ladies,  who 
were  continually  asking  to  have  the  cocks  brought  on 
after  dessert.  A  space  would  be  made  in  the  centre  of 
the  table  and  two  cocks  placed  on  it.  How  they  loved 
fighting!  They  certainly  enjoyed  it  far  better  than  the 
spectators.  There  were  four  long  tables,  all  crowded,  but 
when  the  main  was  started  the  other  tables  were  deserted 
and  the  passengers  packed  around  ours. 

Our  opposite  neighbors  were  two  Sisters  of  Charity  who 
were  on  their  way  to  the  City  of  Mexico  to  fill  a  gap  that 
death  had  made  in  the  ranks  of  their  order  there.  They 
were  simple,  sainted  souls  and  had  never  known  any  life 
other  than  the  religious,  and  never  emerged  from  the  cloister 
save  only  to  do  deeds  of  mercy  in  the  country  town  out- 
side. They  had  been  selected  by  lot  to  go  to  Mexico.  We 
were  favored  to  become  fast  friends  of  theirs,  and  I  was 
glad  to  have  them  accept  such  attentions  as  we  could  give. 
It  was  delightful  to  meet  such  simple,  unsophisticated  peo- 
ple under  circumstances  when,  they  being  travelers,  the 
rules  of  the  Church  permitted  them  to  throw  off  their  re- 
serve, to  associate  with  strangers  and  to  live — so  far  as 
food  and  drink  were  concerned — like  the  people  they  were 
associated  with  for  the  time. 

My  wife  and  I  grew  to  like  them  well,  and  I  was  never 

tired  of  getting"  their  views  of  men  and  things.     Truly  their 

lives  were  a  thing  apart  from  the  world  and  the  ways  of 

men.    They  told  me  with  a  kind  of  rapture  that  the  average 

1« 


308  from;  wall,  street  to  newgate 

life  of  one  of  their  order  in  IMexico  was  only  five  years,  and 
they  thought  heaven  had  been  very  gracious  in  selecting 
them,  that  they  might  give  their  lives  to  thei  Church  and  so 
become  members  of  the  mighty  army  of  martyrs  who  were 
honored  in  heaven  by  looking  upon  the  face  of  the  Virgin 
and  her  Son  and  serving  them. 

They  knew  nothing  of  wines  and  did  not  suspect  the 
costliness  of  those  which  during  the  entire  voyage  they 
drank  at  my  expense. 

The  dinners  were  rather  formal  affairs  and  occupied  an 
hour  and  a  half,  and  between  the  good  sisters  and  us  two 
we  always  finished  a  bottle  of  claret  and  two  of  champagne, 
and  about  a  like  quantity  between  dinner  and  bedtime.  I 
don't  believe  that  up  to  the  hour  they  left  the  world  they 
ever  quite  understood  why  they  were  so  happy  and  merry 
on  that  voyage. 

We  used  to  visit  the  steerage  forward  nearly  every  day. 
There  was  an  unmistakable  lady  so  unfortunate  as  to  be 
a  passenger  there.  She  appreciated  our  visits,  and  eventu- 
ally confided  the  story  of  her  life  to  my  wife,  and!  what  a 
story  it  was  of  woman's  love  and  man's  perfidy ! 

I  had  an  electric  battery  which  I  frequently  took  into  the 
steerage  to  astonish  the  natives.  When  I  first  put  a  silver 
piece  in  a  basin  of  water  and  told  them  the  man  taking  it 
out  could  keep  it,  what  a  rush  there  was!  There  was  one 
would-be  clever  clown  who  was  perfectly  willing  to  test 
the  power  of  the  battery,  but  was  so  clever  he  never  would 
take  hold  of  both  handles  at  once.  He  dodged  around  for 
two  or  three  days  greatly  pleased  with  his  sharpness,  but 
I  determined  to  have  him  some  day  and  have  him  hard 
when  I  got  him.  So  one  morning  when  dancing  about  as 
usual  he  happened  to  be  barefooted.  Apparently  by  acci- 
dent, I  upset  the  basin  of  water  over  the  deck,  making  it  a 
good  conductor,  then  accepting  his  offer  to  try  the  machine 
by  holding  one  handle,  I  dropped  the  other  on  the  wet  deck 


VTA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  309 

and  gave  him  the  bertefit  of  the  whole  power  of  the  battery. 
He  let  one  terrific  yell,  then  stood  rooted  to  the  deck  speech- 
less for  a  moment;  then  gave  vent  to  a  series  of  whoops 
that  would  have  made  the  fortune  of  a  Comanche  Indian. 
When  freed  from  the  current  the  clever  fellow  made  a  break 
for  the  steerage  and  never  appeared  again  at  any  of  my 
electric  seances.  All  those  ignorants  insisted  that  my  bat- 
tery was  surely  el  diablo. 

After  eighteen  days  we  cast  anchor  in  St.  Thomas  harbor, 
and  pleasant  as  our  voyage  had  been  we  were  glad  to  see 
land.    We  were  to  stop  a  day  for  coaling. 

Taking  the  two  sisters,  we  went  ashore  in  one  of  the 
many  boats  surrounding  the  ship,  all  manned  by  scantily 
robed  black  fellows.  The  town,  with  its  hordes  of  gaudily 
dressed  and  noisy  blacks,  was  most  interesting.  I  had  hired 
the  boat  for  the  day,  so  the  three  black  fellows  accompanied 
us  around  the  town.  Each  wore  a  stovepipe  hat.  The 
remainder  of  their  furniture  consisted  of  cotton  shirt  and 
trousers.    The  men  were  barefooted,  of  course. 

My  wife  was  the  typical  blue-eyed,  golden-haired  English- 
woman, and  was  the  observed  of  all  observers  in  that  black 
mob.  I  myself  was  all  in  white,  from  canvas  shoes  to  white 
umbrella.  So,  between  the  two  sisters  in  their  black  robes 
and  white  bonnets  and  our  attending  boatmen,  along,  with  a 
mob  of  half-naked  black  boys  that  followed,  we  formed 
quite  a  circus  and  created  a  commotion  in  the  town. 

First  I  took  the  sisters  to  the  cathedral.  Both  were  grate- 
ful and  knelt  at  the  altar  for  a  full  half  hour  while  we  waite4. 
Then  after  visiting  several  stores  to  make  some  small  pur- 
chases, we  went  to  a  circus  showing  there  that  week.  I  bought 
ten  tickets  for  my  party.  Everything  they  saw  in  the  town 
was  marvelous  and  strange  to  them.  When  we  entered  the 
circus  tent  the  sisters  were  peiplexed  and  thought  it  must 
be  a  new  sort  of  church.  But  words  would  fail  to  express 
their  amazement  when  they  saw  the  clown  and  bespangled 


310  PROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

horseman  enter  the  ring  and  the  performance  begin.  They 
were  in  a  new  and  hitherto  undreamed-of  world,  and  gazed 
in  childlike  wonderment  on  the  scene,  and,  like  children,  only- 
saw  the  glitter  of  the  spangles  and  thought  both  men  and 
women  performers  were  angels  of  beauty.  Even  after  the 
thing  was  over  the  magic  and  witchery  of  it  all  rested  on 
them.  Their  hearts  were  deeply  stirred  and  their  thoughts 
were  with  the  performers.  To  please  them  we  sat  until  the 
audience  had  dispersed,  and,  when  going  out,  one  of  them, 
speaking  of  the  performers,  told  my  wife  they  must  be  "very 
near  to  God." 

Then  we  went  to  the  hotel.  I  dispersed  my  cortege  and 
ordered  a  room  for  ourselves  and  one  for  the  sisters,  and 
we  all  took  a  nap  until  evening.  Then  we  had  some  negro 
singing  and  dancing  for  our  amusement  in  the  courtyard 
of  the  hotel,  and  at  9  o'clock  we  went  out  for  a  moonlight 
walk  under  the  tropical  sky.  About  10  we  found  we  had 
had  enough  of  it  and  were  glad  to  betake  ourselves  to  bed. 

We  all  breakfasted  together  in  the  courtyard  the  next 
morning  and  soon  after  went  aboard.  At  noon  up  came 
the  anchor  and  we  were  off  for  Havana,  our  next  stopping 
place,  twenty-four  hours'  sail  away.  The  steamer  after  one 
day's  detention  to  take  in  cargo  would  continue  her  voyage 
to  Vera  Cruz.  It  was  my  intention  to  go  on  to  that  port, 
and  from  there  across  the  country  to  the  capital,  the  City 
of  Mexico.  There  was  no  cable  to  Mexico  in  1873,  ^.nd 
things  there  were  in  rather  a  primitive  condition.  Of  course, 
I  never  anticipated  pursuit  beyond  New  York,  and  took  it 
for  granted  that  my  friends  at  Police  Headquarters  would 
squelch  it  there.  But  once  in  Mexico  there  would  have 
been  no  danger  for  me.  To  be  in  Mexico  was  like  being 
in  the  centre  of  darkest  Africa.  There  was  no  extradition 
treaty,  no  railroads  and  no  telegraph;  above  all,  I  had 
plenty  of  cash. 

I  intended  to  buy  an  estate  near  the  capital,  and  settle 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  311 

down  for  two  or  three  years,  and  by  a  liberal  expenditui  - 
of  money  secure  the  friendship  of  the  government  officials 
and  the  chief  people  of  the  country.  Official  and  social 
morals  being  not  of  the  best,  if  my  history  transpired  I 
would  probably  become  the  lion  of  society,  as  they  would 
all  esteem  it  a  creditable  thing  to  any  man  to  secure!  a  few 
millions  from  the  English,  whose  enormous  wealth  is  the 
plunder  of  India  and  all  the  world  for  centuries. 

The  next  morning  I  found  we  were  sailing  along  the 
Cuban  coast,  quite  near  the  land,  which  looked  so  inviting 
that  I  made  up  my  mind  to  go  ashore  and  stay  a  month  in 
Havana,  so  I  had  my  baggage  got  on  deck.  Soon  after 
dinner  the  engines  were  stopped  for  some  hours  for  repack- 
ing, the  captain  informing  me  that  it  was  doubtful  whether 
we  should  arrive  in  Havana  in  time  to  go  ashore  that  night 
At  6  o'clock  the  sunset  gun  is  fired,  the  custom  house  closes 
and  no  more  debarkations  are  allowed  that  day.  If  I  went 
ashore  the  next  day  I  must  be  up  and  off  at  an  early  hour, 
as  the  ship  sailed  at  7.30,  so  I  told  the  captain  if  he  arrived 
before  6  o'clock  I  would  go  ashore  and  wait  for  the  next 
steamer,  but  if  we  were  late  I  would  go  on  to  Vera  Cruz 
with  him. 

Once  having  made  up  my  mind  to  go  ashore,  I  was  all 
eagerness  to  push  matters.  To  do  so  I  even  asked  the 
captain  to  tell  the  engineer  to  force  the  engines  a  little  if 
possible.  It  was  well  on  to  6  o'clock  when  we  steamed  past 
Moro  Castle  and  dropped  anchor  in  the  harbor.  I  engaged 
two  of  the  boats  alongside,  our  baggage  was  hurried  into 
them,  my  wife  went  down  the  ladder,  and  speaking  some 
hurried  farewells  I  ran  down  after  her  and  sprang  lightly 
into  the  boat.  That  instant  the  sunset  gun  was  fired.  Two 
minutes  later  and  the  custom  house  officers  on  board  would 
have  forbidden  my  leaving  the  steamer.  I  say  two  minutes, 
but  it  was  less  than  half  a  minute.  Half  a  minute!  Thirty 
seconds  changed  my  destiny. 


CHAPTER    XXX. 

"HAPPINESS  AND   I   SHAKE    HANDS    FOR   A    TIME." 

Cuba!  What  a  productive  and  fertile  island  it  is,  with 
its  charming  climate  and  lovely  scenery!  But,  as  in  so  many 
of  the  green  spots  of  this  world,  man  has  blasted  and  spoiled 
all  that  indulgent  nature  has  lavished  here.  From  the  days 
of  Columbus  the  story  of  Cuba  has  been  one  of  wholesale 
murder  of  natives,  of  revolutions — later  of  insurrectionsi  and 
deadly  civil  strife,  which  have  ruined  whole  provinces  once 
covered  with  large  sugar,  coflfee  and  tobacco  plantations. 

Slavery  now,  as  in  all  her  past  Christian  history,  is  every- 
where. Previous  to  1861  40,000  slaves  were  yearly  imported 
in  slave  ships  into  the  harbor  of  Havana. 

Perhaps  all  men  are  cruel  when  they  are  absolute  masters 
of  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  their  fellows  and  amenable  to 
none  for  their  acts.  Certainly  the  white  Cubans,  as  a  rule, 
are  cruel  masters  in  all  their  dealings  with  their  slaves. 

Probably  to-day,  certainly  in  1873,  uiost  of  the  large 
plantations  witnessed  scenes  of  cruelty  never  surpassed  in 
the  long  annals  of  human  servitude. 

During  my  stay  I  was  invited  to  visit  many  plantations, 
but  visits  to  two  were  enough  for  me,  there  being  too  many 
signs  on  the  surface  of  the  brutality  that  lay  beneath.  I 
could  easily  give  cases  that  I  saw  or  heard  of,  but  refrain 
from  doing  so  here. 

One  day's  stay  in  Cuba  convinced  us  we  could  spend  a 
month  verv  happily  on  the  island,  and,  discovering  that 
"(312) 


FROM   WALL   STREET   TO   NEWGATE.  313 

Don  Fernando,  the  proprietor  of  the  hotel,  had  a  furnished 
house  in  a  lovely  situation  to  let,  we  resolved  to  remain, 
renting  the  house  for  a  month  at  a  fixed  rate  per  day.  This 
rate  included  the  ten  servants — slaves — in  the  house,  he  to 
furnish  good  horses  and  everything  except  wine.  The 
service  proved  good,  and  the  cooking  exquisite.  This  was 
rather  expensive,  but  certainly  a  handy  kind  of  housekeep- 
ing, taking  all  worry  and  household  cares  fiom  my  wife's 
shoulders. 

There  were  a  large  number  of  American  visitors  on  the 
islaud,  lovers  of  and  seekers  after  sunshine  and  warmth, 
which  they  found  in  abundance  while  swinging  in  hammocks 
under  the  palm  or  cocoanut  trees,  or  in  strolling  along  the 
white  strand,  with  its  innumerable  sunny  coves,  while  the 
Winter  storms  and  blizzards  were  raging  in  the  Northern 
States.  Here  we  formed  many  pleasant  acquaintances,  and, 
throwing  oflf  much  of  the  reserve  maintained  during  the 
voyage,  we  mingled  freely  in  the  nice  but  gossipy  society 
which  winters  there. 

Our  house  was  on  a  lovety  slope  in  full  view  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  in  the  midst  of  what  was  more  like  a  tropical 
plantation  than  a  garden. 

I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Gen.  Torbert,  our  Consul, 
and  was  introduced  by  him  to  the  Spanish  officials,  includ- 
ing the  colonel  of  police.  I  assiduously  cultivated  the  ac- 
quaintance of  the  latter,  and  frequently  had  him  out  to  the 
house  to  dinner  and  lunch,  and  felt  pretty  confident  that  if 
anv  telegrams  came  about  me  he  would  certainly  bring 
theii-^  to  me  at  once  for  an  explanation.  Even  if  my  presence 
becarre  known,  and  telegraphic  orders  for  my  arrest  should 
arrive,  no  speedy  action  would  be  taken  and  ample  time 
given  me  to  escape.  Tn  all  the  assemblies,  picnics  and  balls 
I  was  gratified  to  find  my  wife  very  much  sought  after  and 
admired.  It  was  well  slie  had  a  few  happy  days;  enough 
miserj-  lay  not  far  ahe^d. 


314  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

In  the  mean  time  I  had  no  word  from  my  friends  in  Lon- 
don. In  fact,  they  did  not  know  where  I  was.  When  I 
bade  them  good-bye  at  Calais  they  told  me  not  to  inform 
them  of  my  destination  until  I  had  got  there,  and  then  to 
do  so  through  some  relative. 

Every  day  I  watched  the  New  York  papers  to  see  if  there 
had  been  any  explosion  in  London,  but  the  silence  of  the 
press  told  me  my  friends  were  having  an  amazing  success, 
and  we  might  expect  two  or  three  months  more  to  elapse 
before  there  would  be  any  discovery. 

We  had  been  some  weeks  in  Havana. 

It  was  well  into  the  month  of  February  when  one  day, 
being  in  my  hammock  on  the  veranda,  with  my  wife  sitting 
near  me,  my  servant  rode  up  with  the  papers,  and,  handing 
me  the  New  York  'Herald,  I  leisurely  opened  it,  while 
chatting  with  my  wife,  but  could  not  suppress  an  exclama- 
tion when  my  eyes  fell  upon  an  Associated  Press  dispatch 
from  London,  in  staring  headlines.     They  read: 

AMAZING      FRAUD      UPON      THE      BANK      OF 
ENGLAND! 


MILLIONS    LOST! 


GREAT    EXCITEMENT    IN    LONDON! 


£5,000    REWARD    FOR    THE    ARREST    OF    THE 
AMERICAN   PERPETRATOR,  F.  A.  WARREN. 

"London,  Feb.  14,  1873. 
"An  amazing  fraud  has  been  perpetrated  upon  the  Bank 
of  England  by  a  young  American  who  gave  the  name  of 
Frederick  Albert  Warren.  Thd  loss  of  the  bank  is  reported 
to  be  from  three  to  ten  millions,  and  it  is  rumored  that 
many  London  banks  have  been  victimized  to  enormous 
amounts.  The  greatest  excitement  prevails  in  the  city,  and 
the  forgery,  for  such  it  is,  is  the  one  topic  of  conversation 


"I    FIRED    POINT    BLANK.    AND      DOWN      HE      WENT    AS    IF 
FELLED   BY    LIGHTNING."— Page   .S34. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  315 

on  the  Exchange  and  in  the  street.  The  police  are  com- 
pletely at  fault,  although  a  young  man  named  Noyes,  who 
was  Warren's  clerk,  has  been  arrested,  but  it  is  believed 
that  he  is  a  dupe. 

"The  bank  has  offered  a  reward  of  £5,000  for  information 
leading  to  the  arrest  of  Warren  or  any  confederate." 

I  took  a  long  walk  on  the  beach  to  think  over  the  situa- 
tion. I  was  alarmed  over  the  arrest  of  Noyes,  which  I  knew 
ought  not  to  have  occurred  if  the  proper  precautions  had 
been  taken,  but  I  concluded  that  at  the  worst  his  arrest  only 
meant  for  him  a  brief  incarceration. 

I  knew  that  no  human  power  and  no  fear  could  ever  make 
him  betray  us.  Two  things  never  entered  my  calculations 
at  all;  that  is,  that  my  right  name  would  ever  transpire,  or 
that  George  and  Mac  would  ever,  by  any  possibility,  be 
brought  into  question  for  the  fraud. 

So  I  came  back  from  my  walk  with  my  plans  outlined. 
It  was  to  remain  quietly  where  we  were  for  a  fortnight 
longer,  then  take  the  steamer  to  Vera  Cruz,  go  to  the  City 
of  Mexico  and  there  buy  an  estate,  as  I  had  originally  pro- 
posed. Then,  after  a  few  months,  leave  my  wife  there  and 
travel  incog,  through  Northern  Mexico  and  Texas,  meet 
Mac  and  George  and  afterward  return  to  Mexico. 

Not  a  soul  in  all  Europe  knew  I  was  in  Cuba,  and  so  long 
as  my  name  did  not  transpire  I  was  as  safe  in  Cuba  as  if 
in  the  desert. 

Consequently  I  determined  to  go  on  in  the  same  way 
since  our  landing.  In  the  mean  while  I  would  watch  the 
papers,  and  if  any  signs  of  danger  appeared  I  could  take 
instant  measures  for  my  safety. 

As  the  days  passed  the  cable  dispatches  appearing  in  the 
papers  increased  in  volume,  and  the  papers  everywhere  had 
editorials,  which,  as  a  rule,  were  humorous  or  sarcastic, 
poking  fun  at  the  Britishers  in  general  and  the  Old  Lady 
of    Threadneedle    Street    in    particular.     Then  the  comic 


316  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

papers  took  it  up,  and  from  week  to  week  published  cartoons 
intended  to  be  funny. 

One  of  the  funniest  of  these  came  out  in  one  of  the  New 
York  comics,  which  appeared  after  the  mail  arrived  from 
London  with  the  particulars  of  the  simplicity  of  the  bank 
officials  in  their  dealings  with  the  mysterious  F.  A.  Warren. 
This  full-page  cartoon  represented  a  young  dude,  seated  on  a 
mule,  riding  down  a  steep  declivity. 

At  the  bottom  the  devil  stood,  holding  in  the  fingers  of 
his  extended  hands  a  quantity  of  thousand-pound  bank 
notes  tempting  Warren,  and  John  Bull  stood  behind  the 
mule,  belaboring  it  with  an  umbrella  and  driving  Warren 
down  to  the   devil. 

I  tried  to  keep  the  papers  from  my  wife,  but  one  day  she 
came  home  from  a  visit  with  a  flushed  face  and  eager  to  talk, 
and  began  telling  me  about  some  daring  countryman  of 
mine  "who  had  the  audacity  to  rob  the  Bank  of  En^lar.d," 
and  "who  ought  to  have  a  whipping."  On  several  occasions 
Americans  there  asked  my  opinion  as  to  who  the  party 
could  be. 

I  always  told  them  he  was  some  clever  young  scamp, 
with  plenty  of  money  of  his  own,  who  did  it  for  the  exxite- 
ment  of  the  thing  and  from  a  wish  to  take  a  rise  out  of 
John  Bull. 

The  next  French  steamer  for  Mexico  was  advertised  to 
land  at  Havana  for  passengers  and  mails  for  Vera  Cruz  in  a 
few  days,  and  I  determined  to  sail  by  her.  Soon  after  my 
arrival  I  had  formed  the  acquaintance  of  a  wealthy  young 
countryman  of  mine  from  Savannah  by  the  name  of  Gray. 
We  soon  became  fast  friends,  and  I  had  him  out  to  dinner 
nearly  every  day.  He  had  a  warm  friend  in  Senor  Andrez, 
a  rich  young  Cuban  planter,  and  had  accepted  an  invitation 
to  visit  his  cofTee  plantation  in  the  Isle  of  Pines,  the  largest 
of  all  that  immense  body  of  islets  and  keys  of  the  south  coast 
of  Cuba  in  the  Carribean  Sea,  one  of  the  loveliest  tropical 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  ?>17 

isles  imaginable,  and  Gray  insisted  upon  my  making  one  of 
the  party. 

It  was  proposed  to  spend  a  week  on  the  island,  and  to 
take  three  days  in  going  and  coming.  But  if  I  went  then  1 
would  be  unable  to  sail  on  the  steamer  of  the  25th,  and 
would  have  to  wait  another  week. 

One  day  Gray  brought  Senor  Andrez  to  dinner,  along 
with  a  common  friend,  a  Senor  Alvarez.  All  three  joined 
in  imploring  me  to  make  one  of  the  party,  promising  sport 
as  novel  as  good;  said  the  wild  boars  were  plentiful;  that 
we  would  have  two  days'  shark  fishing,  turning  turtles  and 
hunting  their  eggs,  and  could  vary  it  by  a  slave  hunt,  the 
jungle  and  some  of  the  smaller  islands  being  "full  of  run- 
aways," and  as  they  were  by  law  wild  beasts  we  might  be 
lucky  enough  to  shoot  a  few  of  them — shoot,  not  capture, 
as  the  planters  knew  that  a  runaway  slave  who  had  tasted 
the  joys  of  freedom  if  caught  was  useless  as  a  slave.  So,  as 
a  matter  of  sport,  as  well  as  a  warning  to  other  slaves,  they 
organized  yearly  hunts  to  bag  a  score  or  two.  But  so  great 
is  the  depravity  of  the  human  heart  that  these  wretches,  in 
their  desperate  wickedness,  objected  to  being  shot,  and  at 
times  were  guilty  of  the  enormity  of  shooting  back  again. 
History  records  how,  on  certain  occasions,  they  did  so  with 
such  good  efifect  that  the  hunted  became  hunters;  but  these 
were  rare  events. 

After  long  urging  I  consented.  At  the  time  there  werf 
only  two  short  railways  in  all  Cuba.  We  were  to*  cross  the 
island  to  the  south  coast,  and  there  embark  for  the  Isle  of 
Pines  in  a  boat  owned  by  our  host,  which  would  be  in 
waiting.  The  railway  would  take  us  to  the  little  hamlet  of 
San  Felipe,  some  forty  miles  south,  and  there  we  were  to 
take  horses  to  the  seaport  town  of  Cajio.  We  were  to  start 
on  Saturday,  two  days  ahead.  My  wife  did  not  relish  m\ 
going,  and  I  disliked  it  more  than  she  did,  but  for  totally 
different  reasons.    Mine  were  that,  as  a  matter  of  prudence, 


318  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NE-U'GATE- 

I  ought  to  recall  my  consent  and  remain  in  Havana  until 
steamer  day,  and  then  sail  without  fail  to  Mexico.  But 
fearing  the  ridicule  of  my  friends,  I  went,  persuading  myself 
that  there  could  be  no  danger  and  that  everything  in  Lon- 
don was  buried  in  so  dense  a  fog  bank  that  the  detectives 
would  struggle  in  vain  to  find  a  w^ay  out  of  it  or  any  clue 
to  our  identity. 

Had  I  known  of  the  clever  work  of  the  Pinkerton  brothers 
in  London  and  the  discoveries  in  Paris  I  should  have  been 
ill  at  ease;  but  had  I  known  that  Capt.  John  Curtin — then 
a  member  of  the  Pinkerton  staflf  in  New  York,  but  now 
(1895.)  oi  San  Francisco — had  with  perfectly  marvelous  in- 
tuition and  rare  detective  skill  let  daylight  into  the  whole 
plot,  and  had  reported  to  his  chief  that  whenever  F.  A. 
Warren  was  discovered  he  would  prove  to  be  Austi.i  Bid- 
well;  I  say  if  I  had  known  this,  instead  of  going  off  on  a 
ten  days'  pleasure  jaunt  into  an  isolated  comer  of  the  world 
I  should  have  taken  instant  flight,  leaving  Cuba,  not  by  the 
usual  modes  of  departure,  but  by  sailing  boat,  and  alone,  for 
one  of  the  Mexican  ports. 

Capt.  Curtin  had  been  detailed  to  work  on  the  New  York 
end  of  the  case,  to  look  for  clues.  It  seemed  a  hopeless 
task.  He  is  a  warm  friend  of  mine  now,  after  twenty  years, 
and  has  long  forgiven  me  for  the  bullet  I  lodged  in  him  in 
1873.  A  few  years  after  arresting  me  in  the  West  Indies  he 
went  to  San  Francisco  and  started  a  private  inquiry  office  of 
his  own  at  328  Montgomery  street.  When,  after  twentv 
years'  incarceration,  I  arrived  there  one  lovely  May  in  1892, 
he  was  waiting  for  me  at  the  ferry,  and  gave  me  warm 
greetings,  and  as  hearty  congratulations,  too,  as  any  man 
could  give  another;  then  introduced  me  to  his  friends 
everywhere,  and,  in  fact,  from  the  hour  of  my  arrival  until 
my  departure,  three  months  afterward,  was  never  tired  of 
doing  me  a  service  and  forwarding  my  business,  so  that 
by  his  kind  offices  I  made  a  great  success  out  of  what,  by 


VIA   THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  319 

reason  of  the  great  financial  depression,  might  othervv'ise 
have  Droved  a  failure.  But  as  Capt.  Curtin,  after  effecting 
my  arrest,  having  recovered  from  his-  wound,  was  one  of 
the  four  who  took  me  to  England,  I  will  wait  until  a  later 
chapter  to  tell  how  it  was  he  discovered  my  name  and 
located  me  in  Cuba. 

On  Saturday  morning  our  party  of  four,  accompanied 
by  a  following  of  black  fellows  and  half  a  dozen  dogs,  set 
out  by  train.  Before  reaching  San  Felipe  our  bones  had  a 
shaking.  The  roadbed  was  execrable,  the  trucks  of  the  cai's 
were  without  springs,  and  to  me  it  seemed  as  if  we  must  leave 
the  rails  at  any  moment. 

In  Havana  we  regarded  Don  Andrez  as  a  good  fellow, 
but  upon  our  arrival  at  San  Felipe  he  had  grown  into  a 
man  of  importance.  When  we  came  to  Cajio  he  liad  grown 
into  a  person  of  distinction,  and  at  the  island  he  had  swollen 
into  a  local  Caesar.  At  San  Felipe,  a  mere  hamilet,  horses 
were  waiting  for  us  and  mules  for  the  baggage,  but  before 
setting  out  we  went  to  a  nearby  hacienda  and  sat  down  to 
what  was  simply  the  best  lunch  of  which  I  ever  partook. 

The  town  was  chiefly  remarkable  for  the  number  of  its 
fighting  cocks.  At  the  hacienda  there  were  dozens,  each  in 
its  separate  compartment — regarded  the  same  as  horses  and 
game  dogs  are  in  England  and  America — and  half  the  black 
boys  we  met  were  carrying  game  birds. 

At  last,  starting  for  Cajio,  the  road  soon  degenerated'  into 
a  mere  track,  which  led  through  some  barren  hills  with 
scanty  growths  of  a  species  of  oak  without  underbrush,  and 
here  and  there  a  sprinkling  of  cacti,  and  in  the  lower  reaches 
between  the  hills  grew  dense  green  walls  of  Spanish  bayonet. 

We  were  crossing  Cuba  at  its  narrowest  part,  and  from 
San  Felipe  to  Cajio  was  only  some  thirty  miles.  After 
fifteen  miles  we  came  into  the  fertile  coast  belt  and  passed  a 
number  of  deserted  sugar  plantations  where  tropic  vegeta- 
tion was  trying  to  cover  up  the  work  of  ruin  wrought  by 


320  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

man.  Residences  and  sugar  houses  destroyed  by  fire  were 
very  much  in  evidence.  To  my  surprise  I  learned  that 
bodies  of  insurgents — who  then  held  and  had  held  for  six 
years  nearly  the  entire  eastern  province  of  Santiago  de  Cuba 
and  Puerto  Principe,  and  part  of  the  extreme  western 
province  of  Pinar  del  Rio — had  only  a  few  weeks  before 
landed  by  night  at  the  port  La  Playa  de  Batabano,  fifteen 
miles  away,  and  with  the  cry  of  "Free  Cuba  and  death  to 
the  Spaniard!"  had  blotted  out  the  town  and  then  marched 
into  the  heart  of  the  countr}^,  burning  houses,  killing  the 
whites  and  calling  upon  the  slaves  to  join  them  in  freeing 
Cuba.  Many  did,  and  terrible  were  their  excesses,  and  terri- 
bly did  they  pay  for  these.  The!  Spanish  soldiers  and  loyal 
Cuban  volunteers  closed  in  upon  therh,  and  at  the  little 
hamlet  of  San  Marcos,  where  we  halted  and  examined  the  too 
evident  signs  of  the  battle  and  massacre  that  followed,  they 
made  their  last  stand,  but  were  no  match  for  their  well- 
armed  and  disciplined  foes.  After  a  desperate  struggle  they 
were  overpowered,  and  every  surviving  soul  was  butchered 
by  the  infuriated  soldiers.  It  was  better  so.  Had  they  been 
spared  it  would  have  only  been  for  the  moment,  for  by 
official  decree  of  the  Captain-General  of  Cuba,  indorsed  by 
the  Madrid  Government,  every  inhabitant  within  the  insur- 
rectionary line,  without  regard  to  age  or  sex,  was  doomed 
to  death  without  form  of  trial. 

At  San  Marcos  we  made  a  halt  to  view  the  scene  of  the 
fight  and  examined  the  heaps  of  ashes  where  thei  fires  were 
kindled  which  consumed  the  bodies  of  the  slain.  Two  or 
three  were  my  countrymen.  At  the  time  it  was  quite  the 
thing  for  venturesome  Americans  to  go  and  join  the  rebels 
and  help  the  fight  for  "Cuba  libre."  For  some  years  every 
few  days  notices  would  appear  in  the  press  about  some 
Americans  having  been  shot  for  joining  or  attempting  to 
Join  the  rebels.  This  went  on  until  the  affair  of  the  steamer 
Virginus,  when  her  crew  and  passengers,  to  the  number  of 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  321 

150,  were  shot,  the  steamer  having  been  captured  close  to 
the  shore  and  about  to  land  men  and  guns.  Then  our  Gov- 
ernment awoke  and  forbade  Spanish  officials  to  shoot  Ameri- 
cans without  trial. 

As  I  stood  there  curiously  examining  the  marks  of  the 
conflict,  or  examining  some  part  of  an  unconsumed  bone,  I 
little  thought  that  in  a  very  few  days  I  myself  would  be  a 
fugitive,  creeping  through  jungles  and  over  tropic  plains, 
seeking  to  join  the  comrades  of  the  men  on  whose  ashes  I 
was  then  treading,  to  aid  their  fight  for  free  Cuba. 

Perhaps  my  subsequent  fate  made  me  ponder  over  my 
happy  life  in  Cuba,  and  compare  the  horrible  misery  of  my 
prison  life,  with  its  hardships  and  degrading  detail,  with 
the  brightness  of  those  days,  when  love,  obedience,  wealth 
and  luxury  were  mine. 

But  in  those  long  years,  when  in  their  gloom  and  de- 
pression I  was  fighting  to  keep  oflf  insanity  by  ignoring  the 
dreadful  present  and  dwelling  on  the  past,  no  incident  of  all 
my  life  on  the  island  haunted  me  more  than  this  at  San 
Marcos.  Every  detail  was  photographed  on  my  brain,  and 
as  I  recalled  that  blackened  spot  strewn  with  ashes  soddened 
by  tropical  rains,  soon  to  be  all  the  greener  for  the  fertilizing 
traged}",  many  a  thousand  times  I  said,  "Would  to  God  my 
ashes  were  mingled  with  the  dead  there." 

Soon  after  leaving  San  Marcos,  striking  into  the  jungle, 
the  road  became  so  narrow  that  we  had  to  go  single  file. 
I  found  the  silence  of  the  tropical  forest  impressive,  and 
think  it  had  its  efifect  on  us  all — even  the  negroes  and  dogs 
moved  on,  making  no  sound.  Although  novel  scenes,  yet 
I  was  glad  when  5  o'clock  came  and  we  emerged  from  the 
jungle  on  to  the  coast  road.  It  was  sandy,  but  well  trav- 
eled. Another  mile  and  we  were  in  Cajio,  and  the  Caribbean, 
blue  and  lovely  as  a  dream,  lay  spread  before  us,  with  hun- 
dreds of  palm-crowned  islets  and  coral  bays,  all  with  sandy 
beaches  of  dazzling  whiteness. 


322  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Senor  Andrez  had  a  house  here,  and  as  they  had  notice 
of  our  coming  everything  was  prepared  for  our  reception. 
Entering  the  house,  we  were  served  with  black  coffee  and 
thin  rice  cakes  fried.  Gray  and  I  wanted  a  swim  before  supper 
in  the  waters,  which  looked  very  tempting,  but  it  would  have 
been  a  breach  of  etiquette  to  indulge  then — and,  by  the  way, 
there  is  a  strange  repugnance  to  water  inherent  in  the  Spanish 
nature,  there  being  no  bathhouses  in  Spain,  they  say,  and 
I  believe  it.  Gray  and  I,  during  the  next  few  days,  were  in 
and  out  of  the  water  at  all  hours,  but  could  never  persuade 
any  one  else  to  try  the  experiment  of  a  swim  in  the  warm 
water  of  the  Caribbean.  At  the  house,  or  when  out  in  boats, 
we  frequently  invited  some  of  the  company  to  join  us  in 
a  plunge,  but  none  ever  accepted  the  invitation.  We  are 
told  on  good  authority  that  "our  virtues  depend  on 
the  interpretation  of  the  times,"  and  one  might  add  "on 
the  interpretation  of  our  nation."  The  Anglo-Saxon  loves 
soap  and  water  and  plenty  of  it;  the  Spaniard  does 
not.  But  this  contrast  may  mean  nothing  in  our  favor; 
there  may  be  a  reason  for  it,  racial  probably,  but  possibly 
climatic. 

Supper  came,  and  it  was  a  treat.  Grav  and  I  noted  that 
in  suitability  of  material  to  the  purpose  intended,  and  in 
cookery,  it  excelled  anything  in  our  experience.  Cafe  Riche 
and  Tortoni's  were  not  in  it.  We  were^  curious  to  see  the 
cook.  She  was  ordered  In  for  our  inspection,  a  sober,  sad- 
faced  negress,  angular,  bony,  and,  strangely  enough,  knew 
only  a  few  words  of  Spanish,  her  language  being  some 
African  dialect,  Africa  being  her  natal  place,  as  it,  indeed, 
was  of  most  of  the  slaves. 

What  views  of  life,  what  views  of  the  Christian  world  most 
of  these  slaves  must  have!  Torn  from  their  homes,  leaving 
their  slaughtered  family  on  the  ashes  of  their  homes,  and 
carried  off  to  toil  and  wear  out  the  only  life  nature  will 
ever  give  them — for  what?    To  toil  amid  hunger  and  abuse 


Page  371. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  325 

too  foul  to  name  in  order  that  the  Christian  robber  may 
have  gold  to  gratify  his  desire. 

She  was  evidently  alarmed  over  the  summons — it  might 
mean  anything — she  was  unused  to  the  coin  of  compliment; 
but  we  gave  it  freel}',  however,  and  the  next  morning  each 
of  us  did  better,  and  when  departing  placed  a  sovereign 
in  her  hand  and  made  Senor  Andrez  promise  to  be  good 
to  her. 

Our  host  grew  his  own  tobacco  and  made  his  own  cigars. 
These  were  famous  even  in  Havana,  and  Gray  and  I  enjoyed 
them  that  evening.  A  number  of  grass-woven  hammocks 
were  swung  under  a  roof  in  front  of  the  house.  It  was 
delightful  lying  there  watching  the  phosphorescent  waves 
rippling  or  breaking  on  the  beach  under  the  light  of  a  full 
moon  and  listening  to  the  chatter  or  the  songs  of  the  black 
fellows  who  swarmed  around  while  smoking  cigars  worth 
the  smoking.  The  negro  children,  shrill-voiced  and  loud, 
were  very  much  in  evidence. 

The  air  was  delightful,  and  following  the  custom  of  the 
country  we  slept  in  the  hammocks  without  undressing. 

The  next  morning,  under  a  sunrise  sky,  which  in  its 
glowing  colors  looked  like  the  New  Jerusalem,  Gray  and 
I  made  a  break  for  the  glorious  water  that  rippled  on  the 
beach.  What  a  swim  we  had!  We  were  the  only  humans 
visible.  All  other  un  feathered  bipeds  were  asleep,  and  we 
varied  our  bath  by  wandering  around  the  beach  in  a  state 
of  nature,  viewing  things  generally,  but  a  turtle  pond  held  us 
fascinated.  Stakes  had  been  driven  down  inclosing  a  space, 
and  upward  of  twenty  great  turtles  were  prisoners,  waiting 
apparently  with  the  greatest  of  patience  to  be  devoured — 
that  being,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  the  ultimate  destination  of  all 
life — that  huge  procession  to  the  stomach.  The  rocks  tell 
us  that  it  began  a  good  while  ago,  and  it  has  kept  up  with 
crowded  ranks  ever  since.  When  the  missionary  landing  in 
Fiji  anxiously  inquired  of  the  boss  cannibal  gentleman 
19 


326 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


where  his  predecessor  might  be  sojourning,  he  was  promptly 
informed  that  he  had  "gone  into  the  interior."  To  "go  into 
the  interior"  is  the  decree  fate  writes  in  her  book  of  doom 
and  copies  on  the  birth  certificate  of  all  the  breathers  o) 
the  world. 


SUGAR   LOAF   MOUNTAIN, 
View  from  Rio  de  Janeiro. 


CHAPTER    XXXI. 

THE   PHILISTINES  ARE  UPON  THEE.  SAMSON. 

I  was  very  fortunate  in  my  servant  Nunn,  he  being 
devoted  to  me,  a  resolute  fellow  as  well,  and  thoroughly 
trustworthy.  He  felt  very  badly  over  my  leaving  him  be- 
hind in  Havana.  Nor  would  I  have  done  so  under  ordinary 
circumstances. 

The  dav  before  leaving  on  the  trip,  taking  him  aside,  but 
not  wishing  to  actually  disclose  anything,  I  talked  in  a  very 
impressive,  grave  way,  instructing  him  to  leave  Havana 
secretly  after  telling  his  mistress  that  I  had  ordered  him  to 
go  to  Matanzas,  a  city  forty  miles  east  by  rail.  He  was  to 
bring  all  the  New  York  papers,  meet  me  at  Cajio  and  not  let 
a  soul  know  his  destination,  but  be  there  awaiting  my  arrival 
from  the  Isle  of  Pines  the  following  Sunday  week.  If  in  the 
mean  time  anything  unusual,  no  matter  what,  happened, 
then  he  was  instantly  to  depart  for  Cajio,  there  hire  a  boat 
and  crew  and  come  after  me,  not  to  mind  expense  and  not 
to  lose  a  moment's  time.  Nunn  was  one  of  those  wise  men 
who  know  how  to  obey  orders  without  self-questionings  as 
to  the  whys  and  wherefores. 

I  had  secured  gun  licenses  from  the  authorities,  and, 
giving  them  to  Nunn,  ordered  him  to  bring  a  breech-loader 
and  a  brace  of  revolvers  with  him. 

During  my  stay  in  the  Isle  of  Pines  I  would  be  out  of 
reach  of  the  outside  world.  If  on  meeting  Nunn  I  found 
from  the  papers  he  brought  that  there  was  any  sign  of  danger 

(327) 


328  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

I  would  not  return  to  Havana,  but  would  secure  a  boat, 
provision  it,  set  sail  alone  for  some  port  in  Central  America 
and  send  my  servant  back  after  my  wife. 

At  ID  o'clock  our  party  set  out  in  an  open-decked  cargo 
boat  from  Cajio  for  San  Jose,  seventy  miles  across  the 
water  and  on  the  west  coast  of  the  island.  \  San  Jose  was 
<3ne  o,f  the  half-dozen  plantations  belonging  to  our  host,  the 
chief  product  being  coffee,  and  on  this  one  there  were  130 
slaves. 

We  had  a  motley  cargo.  Twenty  black  fellows,  dogs, 
turtles,  fighting  cocks,  two  trained  pigs,  a  good-sized  snake 
that  answered  to  the  name  of  Jacko  and  liad  the  run  of  the 
siiip.  Ship,  men,  women  and  young  darkies,  trained  pigs 
and  everything  except  we  three  guests  were  the  absolute 
property  of  our  host. 

We  were  passing  through  the  gate  of  the  Gulf  of  Mata- 
mano.  The  bottom  was  so  white  and  the  water  so  clear 
that  we  could  see  distinctly  all  the  wondrous  marine  life 
beneath.  Ashore  in  the  thick  forests  all  seemed  to  be  dead,  but 
here  in  the  water  and  beneath  the  surface  all  was  teeming 
with  life.  Flocks  of  sea  fowl  were  in  the  air  or  whitened 
the  rocks  which  everyw^here  rose  above  the  waters,  and 
innumerable  little  islets  rested  like  lovely  pictures  in  the 
blue  setting  of  the  sea. 

At  one  of  the  loveliest,  called  Cayos  de  Tana,  with  a  wide 
fringe  of  white  beach,  we  landed ;  that  is,  our  boat  ran  toward 
it  until  the  keel  stuck  in  the  sand,  when  a  dozen  black  fellows 
sprang  over  into  the  water,  and,  taking  us  white  trash  on 
their  shoulders,  canned  us  ashore.  Once  there  we  set  out  to 
find  turtle  eggs,  and  soon  found  heaps  of  sand  which,  when 
scraped  away,  revealed  the  eggs  in  dozens.  We  took  away 
about  a  bushel,  but  they  had  a  rancid  flavor,  so  Gray  and  I 
backed  out  of  our  promise  to  eat  them,  as  did  Senors 
Andrez  and  Mondago. 

The  man  in  charge  of  the  boat  was  a  skillful  sailor,  and. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  329 

having"  a  fine  breeze,  we  rushed  through  the  water  at  a 
great  rate.  At  last,  after  a  day  of  novel  enjoyment,  just  as 
the  short  twilight  of  the  tropics  was  fading  out,  we  ran 
alongside  of  the  little  pier  of  San  Jose  and  were  welcomed 
with  loud  shouts  and  gun  shots  from  about  a  hundred 
gaudily  attired  slaves,  who  were  excited  and  seemingly  glad 
over  the  return  of  their  master,  this  being  Sunday  and  a 
holiday. 

Did  any  of  my  readers  ever  think  what  the  rest  of  Sunday 
is  to  the  toilers  of  the  earth?  If  Christ  left  no  other  legacy 
to  the  Christian  world  but  that  happy  day  of  rest,  then  must 
we  still  bless  and  praise  him  as  the  Mighty  Benefactor  of 
the  world,  the  Saviour  and  glorious  hero  of  the  working- 
man.  For  nineteen  years  I  toiled,  exposed  to  ever}'^  storm 
that  blew,  and  was  sustained  through  all  the  six  days' 
misery  by  the  blessed  knowledge  that  Sunday,  with  its  rest, 
was  never  far  off.  And  when  the  Sunday  morning  dawned 
and  the  happy  consciousness  filled  my  mind  that  for  one 
day  at  least  I  was  free  from  toil,  my  heart  filled  with  grati- 
tude to  the  Galilean  carpenter,  who,  by  his  gracious  deeds 
and  genius,  had  so  impressed  the  hearts  of  men  that  for 
his  sake  they  had  taken  the  seventh  day  of  the  Hebrew  and 
bequeathed  it  as  a  day  of  rest  to  all  the  toiling  generations 
of  the  sons  of  men.  The  Roman  Empire,  which  overshad- 
owed the  world  and  held  the  nations  in  subjection,  knew  no 
day  of  rest,  and  to-day  the  toiling  millions  of  China  never 
wake  to  say :  "This  is  a  day  of  rest  on  which  I  can  turn  my 
thoughts  to  other  things  than  toil." 

I  must  not  here  enter  into  details  of  that  week  of  rare 
sport  and  keen  enjoyment  in  the  Isle  of  Pines.  We  went 
shark  fishing  by  day  and  tipping  turtles  in  the  moonlight  by 
night,  when  they  came  ashore  to  deposit  their  eggs  in  the 
sand.  One  never-ending  source  of  enjoyment  to  the  Cubans 
was  the  battles  of  the  fighting  cocks.  I  had  got  over  some 
of  my  repugnance  to  the  sport,  and  enjoyed  it  almost  as  well 


330  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

as  the  cocks  themselves.     How  soon  one  learns  to  do  in 
Rome  as  do  the  Romans! 

The  week  had  come  to  an  end,  and,  although  importuned 
by  my  host  to  delay  my  departure,  my  anxiety  as  to  the 
state  of  affairs  in  the  outside  world  was  too  great  to  postpone 
my  return  to  the  mainland.  So,  after  a  rousing  send-off  from 
every  one  on  the  plantation,  I  departed.  Just  as  the  sun 
was  flinging  its  dyes  over  the  clouds  and  waters,  one  week 
from  the  Sunday  of  my  arrival  at  San  Jose,  I  was  sailing 
into  the  little  bay  of  Cajio.  Gray  was  to  remain  another 
week,,  and  I  was  returning  in  a  small  sloop  manned  by  two 
of  Senor  Andrez's  men.  I  found  Nunn  waiting  for  me  on 
the  beach.  He  handed  me  a  letter  from  my  wife  and  said 
everything  vras  well  at  home.  Opening  the  letter  T  found 
an  earnest  appeal  to  return  at  once.  Going  to  the  hacienda 
near  by  I  took  the  bundle  of  New  York  and  London  papers 
Nunn  had  brought.  I  went  to  my  room,  and,  opening  the 
Herald  I  was  amazed  to  see  the  storm  over  the  Bank  of 
England  business  and  the  great  desire  to  discover  the  mys- 
terious Warren. 

I  felt  that  the  time  had  come  when  it  would  no  longer 
be  prudent  for  me  to  live  under  my  right  name.  It  was  an 
easy  matter  to  invent  a  name  and  live  under  it,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  do  so,  for  a  time  at  least,  until  after  I  saw  how  mat- 
ters developed.  But  I  could  not  do  this  in  Havana,  for  in  case 
of  using  an  alias  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  my  wife  into 
my  confidence.  She  was  sure  to  discover  thei  matter  sooner 
or  later,  and  it  was  better  for  her  to  learn  the  miserable 
truth  from  my  own  lips  than  to  leave  the  discovery  to  come 
to  her  through  the  public  press. 

In  Mexico  I  should  really  have  nothing  to  fear,  even  if  it 
was  known  I  was  there.  So,  after  some  cogitation,  I  deter- 
mined to  return  to  Havana,  say  good-bye  to  all  our  friends 
and  embark  as  soon  as  possible  for  Vera  Cruz.  I  was 
impatient  to  set  off  at  once,  but  it  was  both  dangerous  and 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  331 

difficult  work  to  go  through  the  jungle  by  night,  so  telling 
Nunn  to  be  ready  to  start  at  sunrise  I  went  to  bed. 

At  dawn  we  set  out  and  did  not  halt  yntil  we  reached 
San  Marcos,  with  its  gloomy  memorial  of  human  savagery. 
After  an  hour's  halt  we  set  out  and  arrived  at  San  Felipe 
in  time  to  catch  the  train  to  Havana.  On  arriving  there  at 
dusk  I  sent  my  servant  to  inform  his  mistress  of  my  safe 
arrival  while  I  called  on  Don  Fernando  at  the  hotel.  His 
frank  and  hearty  reception  told  me  at  once  that  he  had  heard 
nothing,  and  he  knows  pretty  well  everything  going  on  in 
the  town.  From  the  hotel  I  drove  to  the  police  barraclvs  and 
called  on  the  colonel  of  poYce,  with  the  same  result,  which 
satisfied  me  beyond  all  d  u'jt  that  I:owever  the  storm  blew 
in  London  or  New  York  there  was  not  a  single  cloud  on  the 
horizon  in  Ha^ana.  P.ut  it  was  soon  to  blow  a  hurricane, 
I  had  a  very  happy  meeting  with  my  wife,  and  found  her  the 
picture  of  health  and  happiness. 

As  I  looked  in  her  face,  beaming  with  confidence  and 
faith,  I  realized  how  hard  it  would  be  to  tell  her)  the  terrible 
truth,  and  what  a  shock  it  would  be  to  her  when  she  dis- 
covered the  husband  she  believed  the  soul  of  honor  stood 
in  danger  of  a  prison.  Yet  I  was  tolerably  certain  she  would 
forgive  me  upon  my  promise  never  to  do  wrong  again. 

She  had  sent  out  invitations  to  dinner  for  Thursday  to 
twenty  friends.  There  was  then  a  steamer  in  the  harbor 
advertised  to  sail  in  two  days  for  Mexico,  and  I  had  thought 
of  going  by  her.  Had  we,  this  book  would  never  have  been 
written. 

As  invitations  were  out  for  Thursday,  I  concluded  to 
wait  for  Saturday's  steamer,  but  determined  to  sail  on  that 
day  without  fail. 

Under  our  system  of  housekeeping  a  dinner  party  was  a 
simple  thing.  We  merely  had  to  notify  our  landlord  how 
many  guests  we  expected  and  the  thing  was  done,  so  far  as 
we  were  concerned.     Don  Fernando  would  send  his  hotel 


332  FROM    WALL    STREET   TO    NEWGATE 

steward  down  to  the  house  with  reinforcements  of  cooks 
and  waiters,  and  my  wife  had  simply  to  usher  the  guests  into 
the  dining  room  and  out  again.  Don  Fernando's  super- 
numeraries did  the  rest.  On  the  day  of  our  dinner  I  was 
strongly  tempted  to  give  some  hint  to  my  wife  that  I  was 
in  some  way  entangled  in  a  web,  but  as  she  was  so  happy 
I  could  not  do  it,  but  resolved  to  wait  until  we  were  settled 
in  Mexico,  and  then  to  tell  her  a  little,  but  not  all  the  truth. 

My  wife,  all  unconscious  of  the  frightful  calamity  impend- 
ing, entered  upon  the  last  half  day  of  happiness  she  was  to 
know  for  many  long  years.  The  same  statement  would  be 
true  of  myself.  As  the  guests  were  arriving  I  was  in  a 
happy  vein,  and  in  the  same  happy  frame  of  mind  sat  down 
to  dinner.  Twenty  happy  mortals,  but  not  one  divined  the 
termination  of  that  dinner  party,  least  of  all  the  proud  and 
happy  hostess.  It  was  a  great  success,  and  at  8  o'clock  was 
drawing  to  a  close.  The  long  windows  were  open,  while 
the  warm  breeze  from  the  nearby  gulf  was  pouring  through 
the  room.  The  clock  had  just  chimed  the  quarter  when 
there  came  a  sudden  rush  of  feet  over  the  veranda  and 
through  the  hall.  All  eyes  were  fixed  on  the  open  door 
leading  to  the  hall,  when  an  eager,  resolute-faced  man,  evi- 
dently an  American,  stepped  with  a  firm  pace  into  the  room, 
followed  by  a  dozen  civilians  and  soldiers.  With  a  quick 
glance  over  the  company  his  eyes  rested  on  me,  and  coming 
direct  to  my  chair,  while  my  guests  gazed  in  amazement,  he 
bowed  and  said  in  a  low  voice  :  "Mr.  Bidwell,  I  am  sorry 
to  disturb  your  dinner  party  or  to  annoy  you  in  any  way, 
but  I  am  forced  to  tell  you  I  have  a  warrant  in  my  pocket 
for  your  arrest  upon  a  charge  of  forgery  upon  the  Bank 
of  England.  The  warrant  is  signed  by  the  Captain-General 
of  Cuba,  everything  is  in  due  form,  and  you  are  my  pris- 
oner.    I  am  William  Pinkerton." 

Every  man  who  enters  the  arena  and  joins  in  the  struggle 
of  life  has  more  or  fewer  takedowns  in  his  history.     But 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  333 

tny  wish  is  that  between  this  hour  and  my  last  I  may  have 
no  more  takedowns  so  near  the  freezing  point  as  this  was. 
I  shall  never  forget  the  look  on  my  wife's  face.  First  she 
gazed  at  the  intruders  with  indignation,  then  turned  to  me 
with  a  look  of  eager  expectation,  as  much  as  to  say:  "Wait 
till  my  husband  raises  his  arm  and  you  will  all  go  down."  But 
instead  of  seeing  me  rise,  indignant  and  angry,  driving  the 
intruders  out,  she  saw  me  talking  quite  calmly  to  Curtin. 
Then  her  face  grew  deadly  white.  None  of  the  guests  heard 
Pinkerton's  words,  but,  as  will  be  easily  imagined,  there 
was  a  painful  silence,  which  I  broke  by  standing  up  and 
saying  that  there  was  some  unhappy  mistake,  that  I  was 
arrested  upon  the  charge  of  furnishing  arms  to  the  insur- 
rectionists in  the  eastern  provinces.  I  requested  my  friends 
to  withdraw  at  once,  and  everything  would  be  explained 
on  the  morrow. 

There  were  five  soldiers  present,  Mr.  Crawford,  the  Eng- 
lish Consul-General,  Pinkertotn  and  Captain  John  Curtin, 
my  servant  Nunn  being  in  custody  of  the  latter.  It  was  a 
strange  and  unhappy  scene,  and  every  one  felt  extremely 
awkward  and  ill  at  ease,  especially  the  writer.  In  the  rear 
of  the  dining  room  was  a  large  sitting  room,  where  I  kept 
my  valuables  in  trunks  and  did  my  writing.  I  turned  to 
Mr.  P.,  and  said:  "Will  you  come  in  the  other  room?" 
"Certainly,"  he  replied,  without  the  slightest  hesitation. 
The  room  was  brilliantly  lighted.  Motioning  him  to  a 
seat,  I  said: 

"Will  you  have  a  glass  of  wine?" 

"Yes,  but  I  never  drink  anything  but  Cliquot,"  replied 
Mr.  Pinkerton,  pleasantly. 

A  servant  brought  in  a  bottle  and  glasses,  and  I  turned 
the  conversation  upon  the  subject  of  money.  The  captain, 
being  a  stranger  to  me,  guided  by  former  experience  with 
Irving  &  Co.  I  fancied  he  might  be  bribed.  Sometimes 
the  police  are  susceptible  to  this  form  of  temptation,  and  I 


334  FROM   WALL   STREET   TO    NEWGATE 

was  at  bay  and  desperate.  I  intended  to  offer  him  a  for- 
tune for  a  bribe.  If  he  refused  to  take  it  I  resolved  to 
shoot  him  and  dash  out  of  the  window,  for  at  my  elbow 
was  an  open  drawer,  with  a  loaded  revolver  ready  at  my 
hand. 

I  said:  "You  know  the  power  and  value  of  money?" 

"Yes,  and  I  need  and  want  plenty  of  it." 

Pointing  to  a  trunk  I  said:  "I  have  a  fortune  there.  Sit 
where  you  are  ten  minutes,  give  no  alarm,  and  I  will  give 
you  ;^ 50,000." 

Then  a  scene  ensued  that  if  put  upon  the  stage  would 
be  deemed  farfetched,  if  not  incredible.  When  I  said  this 
the  captain  never  moved  a  muscle,  but  looked  at  me  seri- 
ously, earnestly,  then  dropped  his  eyes  to  the  bottle.  As 
he  did  so  I  placed  my  hand  on  the  revolver.  He  took  the 
bottle  up,  filled  his  glass,  and,  looking  steadily  at  me, 
drank  it  off,  and,  replacing  the  glass  on  the  stand,  coolly 
remarked: 

"Why,  sir,  that  is  ^5,000  a  minute!" 

"Yes,  and  good  pay,  too,"  I  said. 

"But  I  won't  have  it!"  he  interjected,  and  sprang  to  his 
feet  as  he  saw  me  make  a  movement ;  but  I  was  too  quick 
for  him. 

I  fired  point-blank,  and  down  he  went  as  if  felled  by 
lightning. 

I  rushed  to  the  window,  when  the  Venetians  were  torn 
violently  down,  and  one  of  Curtin's  subordinates,  revolver 
in  hand,  sprang  from  the  outer  darkness  through  the  win- 
dow into  the  room,  and  the  others  came  with  the  soldiers. 
My  wife,  too,  white  faced,  rushed  in  from  the  dining 
room.  A  lively  struggle  followed,  in  which  Curtin,  having 
risen  from  the  floor,  joined.  The  struggle  was  soon  over, 
leaving  me  a  prisoner  under  close  guard. 

My  bullet  had  struck  the  captain,  breaking  a  rib  and 
glancing  off,  but  he  was  game,  and  when  we  shortly  after 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  835 

(departed  ioP  the  city  he  rode  with  me  in  the  same  car- 
riage. I  tried  to  soothe  my  wife's  fears,  but  it  was  attempt- 
ing the  impossible,  so  we  drove  away  to  the  city  in  three 
carriages,  Mr.  P.  assuring  my  wife  that  I  would  sleep  at 
the  hotel. 

By  the  time  we  arrived  the  news  had  spread  among 
the  American  colony,  and  as  the  hotel  was  a  sort  of 
American  club  delegations  of  my  acquaintances  speedily 
arrived.  All  were  loud  in  the  denunciation  of  the  outrage. 
Of  course,  they  saw  things  on  the  surface  only.  Soon 
our  Consul-General  Torbet  arrived,  and  assured  me  he 
would  see  that  I  should  be  treated  with  every  consid- 
eration until  such  time  as  the  unfortunate  mistake  was 
corrected. 

That  night  I  slept  at  the  hotel  with  Curtin  and  his  two 
companions  for  roommates.  Mr.  P.  took  his  wound  and 
close  call  very  good  naturedly,  and  said  he  did  not  blame 
me  at  all,  but  felt  taken  down  to  think  I  had  got  the  drop 
on  him.  Early  the  next  morning  my  friend,  the  chief  of 
police,  Col.  Moreno  de  Vascos,  called  on  me,  indignant  and 
angry  that  I  should  suffer  such  discourtesy.  He  was  par- 
ticularly indignant  over  the  insult  to  himself  in  not  being 
consulted,  so  that  he  could  have  sent  me  aj  note  to  call  on 
him  and  explain.  Then  he  turned  to  Pinkerton  and  told 
him  to  liberate  me,  as  he  would  be  responsible  for  me  when- 
ever wanted.  But  the  captain  knew  what  he  was  about,  and 
knew  his  business  too  well  and  the  backing  he  had  to  pay 
any  attention  to  Col.  Vascos.  I  claimed  the  protection  of 
our  Consul,  but  Torbet  regretfully  told  me  that  on  account 
of  the  orders  Pinkerton  bore  from  the  State  I>tpartment 
at  Washington  he  was  forced  to  consent  to  my  detention, 
but  he  would  not  permit  me  to  be  kept  in  the  ordinary  prison. 
So  about  12  o'clock  next  day  I  was  transferred  to  the  police 
barracks,  and  put  into  the  lieutenant  of  police's  room  and 
a  guard  of  soldiers  placed  over  me. 


33d  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

The  'New  York  Herald  of  the  next  day  contained  the 
following: 

(Editorial,  New  York  Herald,  Feb.  26,  1873.) 

"CUBAN  AFFAIRS— BIDWELL'S  IMPRISONMENT. 

"The  special  telegraphic  advices  which  we  publish  to-day 
in  reference  to  the  arrest  and  imprisonment  at  Havana  of 
Bidwell,  one  of  the  parties  accused  of  the  recent  forgeries 
on  the  Bank  of  England,  are  very  interesting,  touching  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Island  authorities  in  this  matter.  It 
appears  that  Bidwell  was  arrested  at  the  request  of  the 
British  Government  on  the  supposition  that  he  was  a  British 
subject;  but  it  is  represented  that  he  is  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  that  his  arrest  in  Cuba  is  not 
justified  by  any  extradition  treaty  with  England,  nor  by 
any  authority,  except  that  of  the  Captain-General,  whose 
will  over  the  Island,  is  the  supreme  law.  If  it  can  be  estab- 
lished that  Bidwell  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  his  case 
certainly  calls  for  the  intervention  of  the  Secretary  of  State. 
The  prisoner,  it  seems,  desires  a  transfer  to  New  York, 
which  is  perfectly  natural,  but  we  suspect  that  the  internation- 
al difficulties  suggested  touching  his  detention  in  Cuba  will 
not  materially  improve  his  chances  of  escape.  Such  pro- 
ceedings could  be  carried  out  in.  no  other  country'  than 
Cuba,  where  the  Captain-General  does  not  alway?  act  in 
accordance  with  law.  Distinguished  lawyers  and  judges  of 
that  city,  in  conversation  with  the  Herald  correspondent, 
denounced  the  act  as  being  utterly  illegal  and  without 
precedent." 

(Cable  dispatch  to  the  London  Times,  March  3,  1873.) 

"Havana,  Cuba,  March  2,  1873. 
"Great  efforts  are  being  made  by  the  lawy-ers  and  promi- 
nent citizens  here  to  obtain  the  release  of  Bidwell,  supposed 
to  be  Warren.  To-morrow  the  American  Consul  will  de- 
mand his  release  on  the  ground  that  he  is  an  American 
citizen.  The  British  Consul-General,  E.  H.  Crawford,  is 
doing  everything  in  his  power  to  counteract  these  efforts. 
There  is  great  excitement  here  over  Bidwell's  arrest  and 
the  popular  sympathy  is  with  him." 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WA"Sf. 


3^ 


(By    cable    from 


Havana  to   New  York  Herald,  March 
31.  1873.) 

"Bidwell,  the  alleged  Bank  of  England  forger,  whose  arrest 
caused  so  much  excitement  here,  escaped  by  jumping  from 
the  second  story  balcony  of  the  police  barracks  late  last 
night  in  the  presence  ofi  his  guards.  He  was  partly  dressed 
at  the  time.  Bidwell  and  his  wife  are  greatly  liked  here,  and 
no  doubt  his  Havana  friends,  seeing  the  impossibility  of 
counteracting  by  legal  means  the  efforts  of  the  British  Con- 
sul to  secure  his  extradition,  planned  the  affair. 

"It  is  the  general  opinion  that  John  Bull  has  seen  the 
last  of  Bidwell,  there  being  dozens  of  planters  in  the  district 
ready  and  willing  to  shelter  him,  which  they  can  do  effectu- 
ally." 


MAT  MAKING    AT    PENTONVILLE    PRISON. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 

NIGHTLY  IN  MY   DUNGEON     THE     MAGICIAN     MEMORY 
WOULD  UNROLL  THAT  SCENE. 

So  at  last  justice  had  laid  hold  of  me,  but  I  thought  it  a 
very  shaky  hold — so  much  so  that  I  was  confident  that  I 
could  break  away  from  her,  so  that  she  could  never  weigh 
me  in  her  balance. 

I  will  not  enter  into  the  details  of  events  in  Havana  for 
the  next  few  days — briefly  told,  I  was  nominally  a  prisoner; 
actually  so,  as  regards  leaving  the  barracks.  The  com- 
mander, Col.  Vascos,  was  a  warm  friend,  and,  living  in  the 
barrack,  he  wanted  me  to  dine  at  his  table,  but  as  I  was  al-? 
ready  planning  an  escape,  I  deemed  it  best  not  to  accept. 

My  wife  spent  many  hours  with  me  daily.  All  my  meals 
were  brought  from  the  hotel.  Nunn  was  kept  a  prisoner 
for  two  days,  then  liberated.  I  took  him  into  my  confidence, 
telling,  him  I  was  going  to  escape,  and  directed  him  to  make 
all  outside  arrangements  for  that  event,  and  he  was  greatly 
rejoiced  when  I  told  him  he  should  accompany  me  in  my 
flight. 

Pinkerton.  was  awake  to  the  danger  of  losing  his 
man,  and  had  lodged  a  written  protest  with  the  English 
and  American  Consuls  against  my  being  confined  in  the 
police  barracks. 

The  only  result  was  that  Col.  Vascos  issued  an  order  to 
keep  him  and  his  men  out  of  the  banraeks. 

I  had  a  great  many  visitors,  including  officers  of  the  army 
and  navy,  and  all  were  loud  in  protestation  and  indignant 
(338) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  339 

at  my  arrest.  None  seemed  to  care  whether  I  was  guilty  or 
not,  but  all  demanded  my  liberation,  as  there  was  no  extra- 
dition treaty  and  no  law  to  surrender  me.  Even  my  lawyer, 
the  most  influential  in  Cuba,  assured  me  there  was  not  the 
slightest  danger  of  my  surrender,  but  I  knew  that  the  bankers 
Rothschild  would  ask  Spain  to  give  me  up,  and  to  an 
impecunious  Government  like  that  of  Spain  the  word  of  a 
Rothschild  was  more  potent  than  that  of  a  king. 

Then  I  knew  such  bright  men  as  William  A.  Pinkerton 
(who  had  arrived)  and  his  lieutenant,  Capt.  John  Curtin, 
would  never  have  made  the  mistake  of  coming  to  Cuba  with- 
out full  powers;  therfore,  feeling  confident  that  my  surren- 
der would  be  only  a  question  of  time  I  resoved  to  escape. 

At  my  request  Col.  Vascos  had  sent  a  guard  of  soldiers 
to  my  house  and  brought  to  the  barracks  two  of 
my  trunks.  I  had  $8o,goo  in  cash  and  bonds,  besides  many 
valuables  as  well,  in  them.  I  gave  my  wife  $20,000  and  my 
servant  $1,000  in  gold  and  $5,000  in  Spanish  bank  notes. 
Curtin  had  in  vain  tried  to  seize  my  luggage,  but  the  Span- 
ish law  stood  in  his  way. 

All  this  time  the  rebellion  in  the  island  was  in  full  blast, 
the  insurgents — consisting  of  native  Cubans,  mulattoes  and 
negroes  (ex-slaves) — held  possession  of  the  greater  part  of 
the  Eastern  provinces — that  is,  the  whole  eastern  end  of  the 
island,  and  the  western  end,  called  Pinar  del  Rio.  They 
had  kept  the  flame  of  rebellion  alive  for  six  years  and  were 
still  making  a  desperate  and  fairly  successful  fight  to  main- 
tain themselves.  The  sympathies  of  the  American  people 
were  with  them,  and  they  looked  to  our  country  for  arms  and 
recruits.  The  former  were  smuggled  into  the  island  as  op- 
portunity offered  by  a  Cuban  committee  in  New  York. 
Not  many,  but  yet  some,  recruits  went,  for  it  was  death  to 
be  caught  going  or  returning,  and  few  ever  returned.  The 
civil  conflict  was  murderous,  neither  side  giving  quarter. 
The  spirit  of  adventure  was  strong  upon  me,  and  I  resolved. 


34d  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

if  I  escaped,  to  make  my  way  to  the  Western  Province  and 
join  the  insurgents  for  a  year,  then  make  my  escape  by  cross- 
ing the  narrow  body  of  water  between  Cape  San  Antonio 
and  the  mainland  of  Central  America. 

Once  among  the  rebels  all  pursuit  of  me  was  at  an  end, 
as  army  after  army  had  been  sent  from  Spain  to  crush  the 
rebellion,  and  each  had  in  turn  melted  away  before  the  valor 
of  the  rebels  or  the  deadly  climate. 

Nunn  volunteered  to  accompany  me,  and  I  gave  him 
$2,000  to  send  to  his  wife  in  Paris,  that  his  mind  might  be 
easy  on  that  score.  No  one  knew  my  real  destination  save 
Nunn  and  my  wife.  It  was  hard  to  obtain  her  consent,  but 
at  last  it  was  given.  I  arranged  with  her  that  she  was  to 
leave  Havana  as  soon  as  she  knew  I  was  ofif,  cross  to  Key 
West,  wait  one  month  there,  and,  if  she  then  heard  nothing 
of  me^  she  was  to  telegraph  my  sister  to  meet  her  in  New 
York,  take  the  steamer  to  that  city  and  live  with  her  until 
I  rejoined  her. 

Among  other  things,  Nunn,  by  my  orders,  procured  good 
maps  of  the  country.  A  Spanish  gentleman,  a  warm  friend, 
but  whose  name  I  will  not  mention,  was  my  counselor  in 
the  plot.  He  advised  me  to  go  to  the  Isle  of  Pines,  as  Senor 
Andrez  had  promised  to  keep  me  safely  from  all  pursuit. 
I  let  my  friends  think  that  was  my  destination.  I  proposed 
as  when  on  my  visit  to  embark  from  Cajio,  but  to  take  a 
westward  course  along  the  coast,  and  when  well  of?  Pinar 
del  Rio  and  night  fell  to  put  about  and  steer  to  shore  under 
cover  of  the  darkness.  Once  ashore,  to  get  as  far  inland 
as  possible  before  dawn.  Then  to  keep  a  lookout  for  any 
body  of  rebels  and  join  them  as  a  volunteer  in  the  cause  of 
"free  Cuba."  We  were  sure  of  a  welcome,  particularly  as 
we  would  come  well  armed. 

I  had  made  it  a  practice  to  give  the  sentinels  in  the  po- 
lice barracks  a  bottle  of  brandy  every  day  and  a  box  of  cigars 
every  second  day  during  my  stay,  besides  what  were  to  them 


P,LACK  MARIA  CONVEYING  THE  FORGERS  THROUGH  LONPON  IN  CHAINS. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  343 

valuable  presents,  so  I  was  highly  popular  in  the  barracks. 
We  had  fixed  on  the  night  of  March  20  for  the  venture. 

My  room  was  in  the  second  story  of  the  barracks,  but  I 
was  allowed  to  go  freely  through  all  the  rooms  on  that  floor, 
followed  more  or  less  by  a  guard.  None  of  the  windows 
opened  on  the  street.  There  was  a  room  leading  to  an  open 
window,  but  the  door  was  kept  locked.  It  was  arranged 
to  have  it  unlocked  with  the  key  on  the  inside  at  10  o'clock 
that  night.  I  was  to  walk  about  as  usual,  and,  when  the 
hour  came  suddenly  step  through  the  door,  lock  it  behind 
me  and  then  bolt  through  the  window  into  the  street.  Nunn 
and  my  friend  were  to  await  me  outside  of  the  window  with 
orders  to  shoot  any  man  (not  a  native)  who  attempted  to 
stop  me,  as  I  feared  Curtin  or  his  men  might  be  on  guard 
in  the  street,  and  once  in  the  street  I  did  not  propose  to  go 
back  again  alive. 

The  guns  and  two  extra  revolvers  had  been  made  into 
a  bundle  and  left  at  the  station.  At  a  nearby  room  were  dis- 
guises for  Nunn  and  myself,  consisting  simply  of  cloaks  and 
whiskers.  We  intended  to  board  the  10:30  train  going 
South,  and  once  well  out  of  the  station  would  dispense  with 
all  disguise  but  the  Spanish  cloak  each  of  us  wore. 

The  day  for  the  venture  came.  I  had  previously  in- 
structed my  wife  to  send  word  she  was  indisposed,  and  to 
remain  at  the  hotel.  She  had  very  bravely  oflfered  to  be 
on  hand  and  with  me  up  to  the  moment  I  disappeared 
through  the  door,  but  fearing  that  in  the  excitement  some 
of  the  soldiers  might  say  or  do  something  insulting,  I  for- 
bade her  being  on  the  scene.  I  had  had  an  unusually  large 
number  of  visitors  during  the  day.  I  felt  but  little  anxiety 
over  the  result,  save  only  on  the  side  of  Pinkerton.  I  had 
a  sort  of  suspicion  or  presentment  that,  once  fairly  outside 
of  the  barracks,  I  would  run  against  him.  The  day  passed 
rapidly  away,  and  6  o'clock  came,  and  all  the  civil  officials, 
with  the  horde  of  hangers-on,  departed,  leaving  the  usual 
20 


344  FROil   WALL  STREET  TO   NEWGATE 

evening  solitude  in  the  barracks.  Soon  Nunn  came  with  my 
supper  and  cautiously  produced  a  revolver  and  belt  I 
strapped  the  belt  around  me  under  my  vest,  placing  the  re- 
volver under  a  pile  of  clothing.  Nunn  reported  everything 
all  right.  He  had  seen  Curtin  that  day  as  usual  around  the 
hotel  and  apparently  unsuspicious  of  anything  unusual 
going  on. 

The  window  I  was  to  jump  out  of  opened  on  the  public 
street,  and  the  street  would  be  jammed  full  of  people  at  the 
hour  I  was  going.  Of  course  there  were  a  good  many 
chances  of  failure,  chiefly  so  because  all  the  police  from  top 
to  bottom  knew  me  by  sight,  and  if  one  of  them  happened 
to  be  one  of  the  half  hundred  witnesses  of  my  jump  he  might 
have  wit  enough  to  seize  me. 

Nunn  and  my  friend  were  to  be  under  the  window  ready 
to  act  according  to  circumstances.  Above  all,  to  be  ready 
to  seize  hold  of  any  one  who  manifested  any  intention  to 
.detain  me.  Nunn  was  full  of  courage  and  hope.  At  7 
o'clock  he  went  away,  not  to  see  me  again  until  we  met  out- 
side the  barracks.  I  called  the  guard  and  three  or  four  idle 
soldiers  into  my  room  and  served  them  out  liberal  doses  of 
brandy.  Unluckily  enough,  however,  the  one  on  duty  would 
drink  but  lightly.  Soon  after  8  Consul-General  Torbet  came 
in  to  smoke  a  cigar  and  have  a  chat.  He  remained  until 
nearly  10,  and  then  departed.  Then  I  felt  the  hour  had  in- 
deed come.  I  thrust  the  revolver  inside  my  shirt,  and  rolled 
up  a  cap  and  put  it  in  the  same  place.  Then  calling  the 
sentry,  I  gave  him  a  drink  and  a  cigar,  and  stepping  out  into 
the  hall,  I  began  my  usual  march  around  through  the  upper 
rooms  of  the  barracks.  I  was  to  go  out  of  the  window  at 
precisely  10.  It  wanted  ten  minutes  of  that  time.  It  was 
a  long  ten  minutes  to  me,  but  I  marched  around  pufSng  my 
cigar  unconcernedly,  with  an  eye  on  the  door  I  was  to  slip 
through.  At  the  hour  I  had  my  watch  in  my  hand,  and  was 
in  the  room  farthest  from  the  door  of  exit  into  the  room 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  345 

opening  on  the  street.  I  walked  swiftly  through  the  two 
intervening  rooms  and  so  was  for  a  brief  four  or  five  seconds 
out  of  sight  of  the  slow  following  sentinel.  I  reached  the 
door,  opened  it,  stepped  through  and  instantly  locked  it.  In 
a  moment  I  was  through  the  open  window  into  the  little 
iron  balcony  outside.  One  swift  glance  showed  me  the  street 
thronged  with  people,  but  hesitation  meant  failure  and  death. 
I  climbed  lightly  over  the  railing  and  hung  suspended  for  an 
instant  from  the  bottom ;  the  crowd  below  made  a  circle  from 
under,  and  I  dropped  easily  to  the  ground,  bareheaded,  of 
course.  Nunni  was  there,  and  instantly  clapped'  a  large 
straw  hat  on  my  head.  The  strange  incident  did  not  seem 
to  attract  the  least  notice,  for  in  a  moment  we  were  lost  in 
the  crowd.  I  had  my  hand  on  my  revolver,  and  had  so 
strong  a  belief  I  should  every  second  be  confronted  by  Cur- 
tin  that  I  was  strangely  surprised  when  I  saw  no  sign  of  the 
gentleman.  In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  it,  I  was  down 
into  an  open  hallway  and  then  into  a  room.  I  and  Nunn, 
who  were  smooth-faced,  were  given  bushy  whiskers  and  a 
cloak.  In  the  mean  time,  I  paid  an  agent  in  waiting  $10,000 
in  French  and  Spanish  notes,  then  we  hurried  out  of  the 
rear  into  a  cab  and  were  driven  to  the  station,  arriving  just 
in  time  to  catch  the  10:30  train. 

The  cab  ride  and  train  ride  that  night  were  happy  rides. 
I  had  been  a  captive  and  now  was  free.  The  sights  and 
sounds  all  around  me  took  on  a  deeper  purpose  and  a  more 
significant  meaning  than  they  had  ever  borne  before. 

I  had  for  a  few  brief  days  been  a  captive,  shut  out  from 
nature's  sights  and  sounds,  and  that  brief  deprivation  awoke 
in  me  a  feeling  of  appreciation  for  the  feast  that  is  every- 
where around  us  spread  with  a  lavish  hand.  My  mind  was 
in  a  tumult  of  delight,  and  I  almost  forgot  I  was  a  fugitive; 
fortunately  the  Spaniard  is  not  a  suspicious  animal,  and  no 
notice  was  taken  of  us ;  and  so  we  bumped  slowly  on  south- 
ward through  the  tropic  night. 


346  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Seven  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  nth  found  us  at 
Guisa,  a  small  station  on  the  railroad  about  ninety  miles 
from  Havana  and  west  from  Cajio  some  twenty  miles.  Our 
friend  here  procured  us  horses,  and,  bidding  him  good-bye, 
Nunn  and  I  started  on  our  ride  to  Cajio.  We  were  both 
greatly  elated  over  the  success  of  our  adventure.  Our 
friends  had  procured  for  us  police  passports  and  gun  per- 
mits under  the  names  of  Parish  and  Ellis. 

I  had  a  chronometer,  several  valuable  diamonds,  a  re- 
volver and  gun.  Nunn  carried  a  canvas  bag  containing, 
among  other  things,  250  capital  cigars,  tobacco,  matches  and 
300  cartridges.  Then  we  had  good  maps  of  the  island  and 
current  charts  of  the  Gulf  of  Mantabano,  with  its  hundreds 
of  rocky  inlets,  spreading  everywhere  along  the  south  coast. 
But,  armed  as  we  were,  it  would  never  do  to  be  picked  up 
by  any  Spanish  boat  or  patrol  anywhere  near  the  rebel  bor- 
der.    It  probably  meant  death  if  we  were  captured. 

I  think  on  the  whole  it  would  have  been  the  wiser  plan 
to  have  gone  to  Senor  Andrez's  plantation  at  San  Jose.  The 
fear  in  that  case  was  that  if  an  order  arrived  from  Madrid 
to  deliver  me  up  I  might  not  be  safe  even  in  the  Isle  of 
Pines.  At  Cajio  I  resolved  to  lose  myself  so  far  as  the 
Spanish  authorities  were  concerned,  and  only  travel  by  night. 
If  we  remained  on  land  this  would  be  necessary,  as  soldiers 
were  everywhere  and  our  police  passports  would  not  hold 
good  if  we  were  found  traveling  in  the  direction  of  the  rebel 
lines. 

I  proposed  going  by  sea,  and  then  all  our  voyaging  would 
necessarily  be  by  night,  for  there  were  Spanish  gunboats 
everywhere  patrolling  around  the  shores,  but  there  were  in- 
numerable small  inlets  where  we  could  draw  up  our  boat,  lay 
perdu  during  the  day  and  spy  out  the  next  island  to  sail  to 
at  night. 

We  arrived  in  due  time  at  Cajio,  and  here  our  passports 
were  demanded  by  a  little  yellow  monkey  of  a  sergeant.     I 


CASTS  OF  THE  HEADS  OF  NOTORIOUS  CRIMINA1.S. 


YIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  347 

did  not  quite  like  having  passports  scrutinized  and  de- 
termined to  try  and  avoid  any  more  of  it. 

We  found  no  boat  at  Cajio,  nor  could  we  buy,  or,  if  we 
bought,  could  not  manage  one  alone.  The  only  thing  we 
could  do  was  to  charter  one  with  a  crew  of  four  men.  Dur- 
ing my  stay  in  Cuba  I  had  been  studying  Spanish.  I  had 
become  a  tolerably  proficient  speaker,  so  I  had  no  great 
difificulty  in  associating  with  the  natives. 

I  found  my  idea  of  joining  the  rebels  by  sea  impracticable, 
and  as  to  go  by  land  was  perilous  in  the  extreme,  I  made 
up  my  mind  to  send  Nunn  back  to  Havana  and  to  make  the 
venture  alone.  I  did  not  care  to_  chance  his  life,  and  I  also 
felt  that  it  was  safer  for  one  than  for  two. 

Forty  miles  away  was  the  last  fortified  post  on  the  Rio 
Choerra,  at  the  small  town  of  Voronjo.  Once  across  that 
small  stream  I  would  be  on  neutral  ground,  liable  at  any 
time  to  fall  in  with  a  rebel  band. 

Nunn  was  very  plucky  and  most  devoted.  He  by  no  means 
wanted  to  go  back,  but  at  last  consented. 

I  determined  to  chance  traveling  on  the  beach  by  night. 
So  at  12  o'clock  the  day  after  our  arrival  at  Cajio  we 
mounted  our  horses  and  announced  that  we  were  returning 
to  Havana.  Two  miles  away,  at  the  small  hamlet  of  Zoringa, 
we  put  our  horses  out  and  struck  for  the  beach  about  four 
miles  west  of  Cajio.  Then  we  went  a  few  yards  into  the 
jungle  and  sat  down  for  our  last  talk  and  to  wait  for  the 
darkness.  We  were  no  longer  master  and  servant,  but 
friends.  The  hours  went  slowly  by;  we  did  not  say  much, 
but  felt  strongly.  We  had  good  cigars  and  smoked  almost 
incessantly. 

I  told  him  to  see  Curtin,  to  give  him  my  regards  and 
laugh  at  him  in  a  nice  way,  and  to  tell  my  wife  that  I  would 
limit  my  stay  with  the  rebels  to  a  year.  I  told  Nunn  to 
send  for  his  wife  to  join  him  in  New  York,  and  my  wife 
would  take  her  into  service  so  that  they  could  be  together. 


348  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

I  did  not  dare  to  keep  the  gun  we  had,  but  retained  tlie 
revolvers  in  a  belt  around  my  waist.  They  were  rather  old- 
fashioned,  and,  as  the  sequel  proved,  the  ammunition  was  not 
waterproof  or  else  was  defective.  I  had  two  bottles  of  water, 
a  hundred  cigars  in  my  pocket,  300  cartridges,  four  pounds 
of  dried  beef  and  a  loaf  of  bread.  I  wore  a  soft  hat  and  had 
on  a  fine  pair  of  English  walking  boots,  an  important  article 
for  the  tramp  ahead  of  me.  I  wore  my  chronometer  tied  by 
a  stout  string.  I  sent  my  wife  all  my  valuables  save  three 
diamond  studs,  $700  in  gold  and  $5,000  in  notes,  mostly 
Spanish  bank  notes,  and  I  kept  $10,000  in  bonds. 

Nunn  cut  me  a  stout  ironwood  cudgel  as  a  handy  weapon. 

At  last  the  night  came,  and  still  we  waited,  loath  to  say 
good-bye.  We  had  come  out  of  the  jungle  and  were  sitting 
in  the  still  warm  sand  talking  in  low  tones  and  watching 
the  stars.  At  last  when  my  watch  told  me  it  was  10  we  rose, 
and,  shaking  hands  warmly,  parted,  he  going  east  to  Cajio, 
I  west  toward  Pinar  del  Rio  and  the  rebel  camps. 

Of  course,  my  great  danger  lay  in  meeting  soldiers  who 
would  stop  me.  Indeed  any  one  who  met  a  stranger  and  a 
foreigner  heading  west  would  either  stop  him  or  give  an 
alarm,  and  if  once  arrested  (passports  so  near  the  enemy's 
camp  were  useless)  it  meant  death,  or  what  was  quite  as 
bad,  incarceration  in  a  filthy  prison  until  my  case  was  re- 
ported on  to  the  Captain-General  in  Havana.  That,  of 
course,  meant  my  return  to  Havana  and  possibly  to  England. 

Everything  is  very  primitive  in  Cuba.  The  common  peo- 
ple— ^that  is,  the  whites  and  free  people — live  in  mere  huts 
or  cabins,  and  sleep  in  hammocks  under  roofs  open  on  two 
sides.  All  go  to  bed  soon  after  sunset,  so  there  was  no 
danger  in  night  traveling,  save  only  in  meeting  the^  sentries 
or  running  on  some  detached  post  of  soldiers. 

In  case  of  meeting  these,  I  had  resolved  to  plunge  into 
the  tropical  jungle  which  came  close  down  to  the  beach. 

Neither  night  traveling  nor  the  situation  had  any  terrors 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  349 

for  me.  I  felt  my  only  danger  lay  in  stumbling  upon  some 
outpost  or  sentry  who  might  perceive  me  before  I  saw  him 
and  so  cover  me  with  his  rifle  before  challenging,  but  I  knew 
from  observation  since  my  arrival  in  Cuba  that  the  discipline 
among  the  Spanish  soldiers  was  very  slack,  and  I  had  a 
pretty  firm  belief  that  isolated  sentries  usually  took  a  nap 
while  waiting  the  relief. 

After  leaving  Nunn  I  started  out  at  a  quick  pace,  alert 
and  confident.  The  moon  had  gone  down,  but  the  Carib- 
bean Sea  was  lovely  in  the  starlight,  and  between  watching 
the  phosphorescent  ripples  of  the  waters  and  listening  to  the 
night  noises  of  the  jungle  I  soon  discovered  I  was  enjoying 
my  jaunt  and  found  myself  anticipating  the  pleasure  of  the 
free,  open  life  ahead  of  me  when  once  beyond  the  Spanish 
outposts  and  a  soldier  of  fortune.  I  thought  what  a  story 
of  adventure  I  would  have  to  relate  when  a  year  or  two 
later  I  rejoined  my  wife  and  friends,  and  I  felt  that  a  good 
record  won  in  a  fight  for  "free  Cuba"  would  make  men 
willing  to  forget  my  past. 

I  found  my  westward  march  frequently  interrupted  by 
spooks — some  rock,  stump  or  bush  would,  to  my  suspicious 
eye,  take  on  the  human  form  until  I  thought  it  was  a  sentry 
on  guard  and  meant  danger.  Once  or  twice  I  sought  the 
shelter  of  the  jungle  and  spent  a  long  time  watching  for 
some  sign  of  movement.  On  one  occasion  I  painfully  made 
a  circuit  of  nearly  a  mile  to  pass  a  projecting  mass  of  bushes 
in  the  belief  that  there  were  men  behind  it.  The  air  was 
balmy  as  on  a  June  night  at  home.  I  trudged  along  with 
my  two  bottles  of  water  slung  across  my  shoulder  tied  to  a 
cord,  and  between  them  and  my  revolvers  and  cartridges  I 
was  pretty  well  loaded  down. 

Nowhere  during  the  night  did  I  come  across  any  frgsh 
water,  but  was  fated  to  have  a  water  adventure  before  day- 
light which  I  did  not  relish.  Soon  after  midnight  I  sat  down 
on  the  sand  well  in  the  shadow  of  some  palmetto  trees  and 


350  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

had  a  very  enjoyable  lunch  of  bread  and  dried  beef,  washed 
down  by  water  from  my  bottle;  then  lighting  a  cigar  and 
reclining  at  full  length  on  the  dry  sand  I  passed  a  pleasant 
half  hour  enjoying  the  fine  Havana.  I  looked  forward  to 
the  hours  of  daylight  to  be  spent  reclining  at  ease  in  the 
jungle  with  many  anticipations  of  pleasure.  I  had  a  supply 
of  fine  cigars,  plenty  to  think  about,  and  the  consciousness 
of  having  overcome  serious  difficulties  gave  me  a  feeling  of 
elation — then  my  surroundings  were  so  novel  and  I  was 
fond  of  outdoor  life. 

At  4  o'clock  the  sky  put  on  a  ragged  edge  of  gray  in  the 
east,  and  feeling  pretty  well  satisfied  with  my  progress  I 
began  to  think  of  selecting  a  retreat  for  the  hours  of  day- 
light. Suddenly  I  found  myself  upon  what  was  evidently 
the  neck,  of  a  swamp  extending  far  and  wide  into  the  land. 
I  had  discovered  during  the  night  that  there  was  a  well- 
traveled  road  skirting  and  following  the  beach  at  a^  distance 
of  a  few  hundred  yards,  but  there  was  danger  of  my  meeting 
some  one  there,  so  I  stuck  to  tlie  beach. 

In  the  middle  of  the  swamp  was  a  clear  space  of  water 
with  marshy  banks.  As  it  was  nearly  daylight,  and  being  in 
no  hurry,  my  presence  in  the  country  unknown,  and  in  no 
immediate  danger,  I  determined  to  halt  and  not  tackle  the 
swamp  until  nightfall  again.  Then,  if  seen  by  any  one,  I 
would  have  some  hours  of  darkness  to  make  myself  scarce 
in  the  neighborhood. 

Turning  to  follow  the  edge  of  the  swamp  I  saw  before  me 
on  a  little  lower  level  than  where  I  stood  in  the  sand  what 
appeared  a  plot  of  vivid  green  grass,  and  without  any  pre- 
caution stupidly  stepped  with  my  full  weight  upon  it,  and 
instantly  found  myself  floundering  in  four  feet  of  mud  and 
water.  I  had  fallen,  and  getting  back  on  the  solid  ground 
I  found  myself  wet  to  the  shoulders,  my  legs  covered  with 
mud  and  my  pistols,  bread,  etc.,  soaking  with  salt  water.  At 
once  I  ran  across  the  beach  and  sat  down  in  the  warm  water 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAl.  351 

of  the  sea,  washing  off  the  mud  as  well  as  possible.  Then 
I  made  my  way  into  the  jungle,  crossing  the  road,  and  going 
into  the  thicket  a  short  distance  sat  down  waiting  for  day- 
light, purposing  to  remain  concealed  near  enough  to  the 
road  to  see  all  passersby,  so  that  I  might  judge  what  sort 
of  people  I  was  among. 

As  the  ground  where  I  stood  was  low  and  wet,  and  my 
clothes  soaking,  I  feared  catching  the  fever,  so  made  my 
way  well  back  to  where  some  fallen  trees  had  made  a  rift 
in  the  dense  mass  of  trunks,  creepers  and  foliage,  letting  in 
the  sunlight.  There  I  pulled  off  my  garments  to  dry,  taking 
great  care  not  to  let  any  of  the  poisonous  leaves  come  into 
contact  with  my  flesh,  and  made  myself  comfortable,  sitting 
down  to  lunch  nearly  in  the  state  of  nature.  I  was  more 
concerned  over  my  damaged  cigars  than  my  dampened  cart- 
ridges. On  examination  I  found  the  cigars  but  slightly 
wet,  so,  spreading  them  out  to  dry  along  with  the  drapery,  I 
lit  one  and  surveyed  the  position.  As  the  moisture  was 
already  steaming  out  of  my  garments  I  took  matters  cheer- 
fully and  considered  the  outlook  good. 

Having  finished  one  of  my  bottles  of  water,  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  carry  only  one,  and  to  take  my  chance  of 
replenishing  that.  So  long  as  my  health  continued  perfect 
I  did  not  require  much  water;  what  I  feared  was  that  my 
exposure  and  change  of  diet  might  make  me  feverish ;  if  so, 
I  would  suffer  from  thirst  unless  I  struck  a  hilly  country. 

How  much  company  my  watch  was  to  me  during  those 
long  days  and  nights!  I  was  never  tired  of  examining  it. 
About  lo  o'clock  I  made  my  way  to  the  road  and  placed 
myself  in  a  mass  of  foliage,  where  unseen  by  any  one  I  had 
quite  a  range  of  the  road.  Up  to  this  hour  I  had  not  seen 
a  soul.  At  first  I  watched  the  littlei  stretch  of  road  with 
eagerness,  but  no  one  appearing  I  turned  my  attention  to 
watching  the  evolutions  of  a  huge  yellow  spider  which  was 
spreading  its  net  near  by.  While  absorbed,  and  almost  fasci- 


352  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

nated,  I  was  suddenly  roused  by  the  sharp,  quick  beating 
of  hoofs  on  the  sandy  road.  Giving  a  startled  glance,  I  saw 
a  man  unarmed,  but  evidently  a  soldier,  gallop  quickly  by 
on  a  mule.  Twenty  minutes  later  an  old-fashioned  cart  con- 
taining four  half-dressed  negroes  and  drawn  by  four 
wretched  mules  passed.  The  men  were  silent  and  downcast 
Before  i  o'clock  thirty  people  had  passed,  several  being 
soldiers  of  the  guardia  civil  (armed  police). 

Then  starting  to  spy  out  the  land  from  the  bushes  and 
vines  bordering  the  swamp  I  could  see  a  bridge  crossing 
the  neck  of  the  swamp,  but,  worst  of  all,  quite  a  collection  of 
houses  at  the  other  side,  reaching  down  to  the  beach,  and  a 
wharf  that  ran  out  into  the  water  quite  fifty  yards,  with,  no 
doubt,  a  guardhouse  and  police  station  among  them.  I  saw 
my  way  blocked.  It  seemed  certain  there  would  be  sentries 
on  guard  at  the  bridge,  or  so  near  it  as  to  make  it  impossi- 
ble for  me  to  cross  unobserved.  The  swamp  extended  in- 
land apparently  for  three  or  four  miles,  and  the  jungle  grew 
so  dense  as  to  make  it  impossible  to  penetrate  it  in  an  efifort 
to  go  around,  so  I  determined  not  to  venture  crossing  the 
bridge,  but  to  swim  for  it. 

The  swamp  spread  on  both  sides  of  the  lagoon,  and  there 
was  no  such  thing  as  wading  in  that  almost  liquid  morass, 
so  I  tried  to  find  by  daylight  a  place  where  the  mud  was 
covered  with  water  enough  at  least  to  make  swimming  pos- 
sible, but  no  such  place  could  I  find. 

Everywhere  a  black  tangled  mass  of  rotting  leaves  and 
creepers  spread,  making  such  a  horrible  slime  that  I  shrank 
from  attempting  to  cross  it  to  the  open  water.  Once  over 
that  there  was  the  same  ordeal  to  go  through  on  the  other 
side,  and  I  knew  I  could  only  do  it  at  full  length — that  is,  to 
lie  flat  and  pull  myself  along  as  well  as  possible.  The  sim- 
plest way  was  to  wade  out  into  the  sea,  then  to  swim  far 
enough  outside  of  the  pier  to  escape  observation  from  any 
one  who  might  chance  to  be  on  it, 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  353 

But  this  involved  the  chance  of  a  horrible  death,  the  sea 
there  swarming  with  sharks,  which  at  night  come  in  shore. 
Therefore,  after  cogitating  the  matter,  I  resolved  to  attempt 
the  bridge,  taking  the  risk  of  being  seen.  It  might  prove 
fatal  to  be  seen,  as  I  would  have  to  bolt  back,  and  once 
knowing  a  fugitive  was  in  the  jungle  they  might  turn  out 
and  hedge  me  in,  unless  I  took  the  sea  route.  This  I 
resolved  to  do,  if  the  one  by  the  bridge  proved'  imprac- 
ticable. 

So  during  the  afternoon  I  gathered  a  small  lot  of  dried 
limbs  and  broke  them  off  in  sufficient  quantity  to  make  a 
raft  capable  of  bearing  about  twenty  pounds.  On  this  I 
intended  to  put  my  revolvers,  cartridges,  cigars,  etc.,  and 
also  to  rest  lightly  on  it  myself,  pushing  It  before  me  as  I 
swam.  After  dark  I  crossed  the  road  into  the  jungle  skirt- 
ing the  beach,  carrying  my  raft,  and  deposited  it  on  the 
sand.  Lying  down  in  the  hot  sand  near  by  smoking  a  cigar, 
I  waited  for  the  moon  to  go  down.  I  was  doing  more  than 
watch  the  stars  and  moonlit  water.  I  was  saying  to  myself, 
"What  a  jolly  world  is  this!" 

Then,  beginning  to  argue  of  human  destiny,  at  last  I 
brought  the  argument  around  to  Ego,  and  decided  that  he 
was  a  pretty  clever  fellow,  and  that  the  world  meant  to  treat 
him  well.  So  Ego,  settling  down  into  a  very  comfortable 
frame  of  mind,  lighting  a  fresh  cigar  and  looking  across  at 
the  dark  masses  of  the  coral  islets  crowned  with  foliage  set 
in  the  mirrored  waters,  passed  two  delightful  hours. 

I  watched  the  moon  go  down  and  was  not  impatient,  for 
the  beauty  of  the  scene  more!  even  than  the  novelty  of  the 
position  cast  a  charm  over  the  spirit  and  soothed  the  eye 
and  mind.  I  wondered  how  many  were  seeking  me  and 
how  many  thousands  were  speculating  over  my  identity  and 
whereabouts,  yet  not  one  in  his  wildest  imagination  could 
ever  picture  the  reality  of  my  position  in  all  its  strange  and 
magic  surroundings.    Through  all  the  coming  twenty  years. 


354 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


nightly  in  my  dungeon,  the  magician  memory  would  unroll 
that  scene  from  his  pictured  chambers.  It  was  all  there — 
the  physical  that  the  eye  took  in  and  the  thoughts  evoked 
and  sent  swarming  to  the  brain,  there  to  remain:  engraved 
until  life  and  memory  end. 


scE?;i!:  i\^-x.. 


CHAPTER   XXXIIT. 

SHARKS,  SALT  WATER  ONES,  AND  OTHER  THINGS. 

The  bridge  had  no  protection  along  the  side  save  a  simple 
stringpiece  of  timber.  On  the  far  side  the  houses  rested 
nearly  against  the  bridge  entrance,  forming  a  street,  which 
I  had  to  pass  through. 

The  moon  went  down  at  lo,  but  I  could  hear  loud  voices 
and  occasional  bursts  of  laughter  until  ii.  Then  all  grew 
still  save  the  night  noises  of  the  woods  and  swamps. 

At  midnight  I  carried  my  raft  down  to  the  edge  of  the 
water,  then  leaving  it  there  for  use  in  case  of  a  repulse,  with 
tny  ironwood  stick  in  my  left  hand  and  my  revolver  in  the 
right,  I  marched  down  to  the  bridge,  but  fearing  my  upright 
figure  might  be  seen,  dark  as  it  was,  outlined  against  the  sky, 
I  stooped'  and  crawled  along  the  stringpiece  of  timber  until 
within  twenty  feet  of  the  large  house  at  the  end  of  the  bridge. 
Peering  through  the  gloom  I  listened,  but  could  not  see  or 
hear  any  movement.  Straightening  myself  up  T  took  half  a 
dozen  paces,  when,  in  the  stillness,  I  heard  a  sharp  crackle 
that  turned  me  to  stone  as  the  flame  of  a  wax  match  revealed 
two  soldiers  sitting  on  a  bench  within  the  porch  of  the  guard- 
house not  ten  feet  away.  One  had  struck  the  match  to  light 
a  cigarette.  The  flame  that  betrayed  them  to  me  showed 
to  them  my  form  outlined  on  the  bridge. 

There  was  a  sudden  exclamation,  a  hail,  "Quien  va!"  then 
a  sudden  and  thrilling  rattle  of  accoutrements,  but  I  had 
turned  and  was  flying  back  across  the  bridge.    Suddenly  a 

(355) 


356  PROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

rifle  shot  rang  out  sharply  on  the  night;  a  second  followed, 
but  I  was  unharmed.  In  ten  seconds  I  wasi  beside  my  little 
raft,  and,  pushing  it  before  me,  waded  out  in  the  shallow 
water.  When  up  to  my  knees  I  halted,  unstrapped  my 
revolvers  and  placed  them  on  the  raft.  Then  pulling  off  my 
shoes  I  put  them  and  my  load  on  the  raft,  fastening  all  with 
a  string  put  there  for  the  purpose.  Sticking  my  knife 
through  the  lapel  of  my  coat  and  resting  my  chin  on  the  raft 
I  began  to  swim,  keeping  well  out,  so  as  to  go  outside  the 
long  wharf. 

In  the  mean  time  everything  was  in  commotion  ashore. 
Two  more  shots  were  fired,  and  flashes  of  the  guns  proved 
that  a  squad  had  turned  out  and  had  crossed  the  bridge  in 
hot  pursuit.  Then  I  blessed  the  wise  forethought  that  had 
led  me  to  construct  the  raft.  Certainly  it  had  saved  me,  for 
they  would  surely  search  the  jungle. 

During  the  fearful  excitement  I  had  forgotten  all  about 
the  sharks.  In  the  darkness  I  had  given  all  my  attention 
to  trying  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  wharf.  Suddenly,  near  me 
in  the  calm  and  awful  stillness,  there  sprang  out  of  the  dark 
waters  a  large  fish  which  fell  back  with  a  splash. 

My  heart  stood  still  and  my  blood  seemed  to  freeze,  for 
to  my  horror  I  fancied  I  saw  the  black  fins  of  numberless 
sharks  cutting  the  water.  I  saw  myself  dragged  down  into 
the  awful  depths  and  torn  limb  from  limb  by  the  fierce  and 
hungry  monsters.  I  gave  up  hope  and  ceased  my  swimming, 
expecting  every  minute  to  see  the  water  churned  into  angry 
foam  by  the  furious  sharks.  Instinctively  I  placed  my  hand 
on  the  knife  I  had  thrust  through  the  lapel  of  my  coat  for 
just  such  an  emergency,  but  strength  and  courage  were  all 
gone  and  my  nerveless  hand  could  not  draw  it  out.  It 
seemed  a  long  time  that  I  waited,  half  dazed,  for  death,  which 
I  hoped  when  it  came  would  be  swift. 

Then  I  began  swimming  again,  but  in  a  hopeless  way. 
My  nerve  was  all  gone.    I  fancied  I  was  ringed  around  with 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  357 

the  black-finned  devils,  and  thought  I.  could  discern  the 
currents  from  their  waving;  tails;  but  I  kept  on  svirimming, 
pushing  my  raft  before  me,  until  suddenly  I  was  thrilled 
through  by  my  foot  striking  the  bottom. 

Making  a  rush  for  the  shore,  and  once  there,  heedless  of 
the  fact  that  I  was  in  the  rear  of  the  houses,  I  fell  down  in 
the  sand,  weak  and  panting,  and  there  I  lay  until  strength 
enough  to  walk  came  to  me.  Then,  taking  my  baggage 
from  the  raft,  and  cutting  the  cords  that  bound  it  together,  I 
started  on.  Courage  and  confidence  soon  came  back,  and  I 
kept  steadily  on  for  three  hours,  passing  several  small 
salt  water  inlets,  but  no  fresh  water  to  fill  my  now  empty 
bottle. 

At  the  first  sign  of  day  I  went  just  within  the  border  of  the 
jungle,  and  lying  down  was  soon  asleep,  and  sleeping 
soundly,  too,  for  waking  I  found  the  sun  high  in  the  heavens, 
and,  looking  at  my  watch,  saw  it  was  9  o'clock.  At  the  same 
time  I  discovered  that  I  was  hungry,  with  no  food  save  a 
small  piece  of  dried  beef  and  not  a  drop  of  water  in  my 
bottle. 

The  salt  water  lagoon,  or  inlet,  where  I  had  my  adventure 
of  the  previous  night  was  marked  on  my  map  as  a  river, 
but  it  was  not.  However,  I  did  not  worry  over  the  water 
question,  as  I  knew  I  was  near  the  hilly  country  surrounding 
the  town  of  Algnizor,  an  important  military  headquarters, 
awd  I  was  confident  of  soon  meeting  some  creek  flowing 
i:!YKn  the  hills.  As  for  food,  there  were  to  be  found  in  the 
dense  jungle,  where  the  soil  was  moist  and.  wet,  the  holes 
nf  the  nut  crabs.  They  were  large  and  fat — ^that  is,  appeared 
k)  be  fat — and  I  knew  that  with  plenty  of  them  in  the  jungle 
Z.  should  not  suffer  from  hunger. 

Before  starting  inland  for  the  day  I  turned  to  look  at  the 
blue  waters  rippling  under  a  light  breeze,  and  glancing  in 
ihe  sun,  only  a  fe^y  yards  away,  I  smiled  to  think  of  the 
phantoms  my  fears  had  conjured  up,  but  for  all  that  I  re- 


368  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

solved  that  no  more  night  swims  in  the  sea  should  find  place 
in  my  programme. 

I  made  my  way  with  difficulty  through  the  tangled  woods, 
but  had  gone  nearly  a  mile  before  I  came  to  the  road.  After 
a  cautious  survey  from  my  shelter,  I  stepped  out  on  it,  and 
looking  away  to  the  west  I  saw  cultivated  hills  with  teams 
and  people  moving  about;  I  also  saw  the  road  became  two — 
the  right-hand  one  led  away  from  the  coast  into  the  hills,  the 
one  to  the  left  continued  to  skirt  the  beach.  Both  roads  were 
well  traveled,  and  I  knew  I  was  near  the  tobacco  belt,  which 
is  cultivated  throughout  its  entire  length,  from  the  Gulf  to 
the  Caribbean  Sea,  for  a  breadth  of  twenty  miles,  its  western 
border  touching  the  province  of  Pinar  del  Rio.  Forty  miles 
beyond  that  border  the  rebels  held  the  town  of  San  Cristoval, 
but  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  follow  the  coast  until  I 
reached  the  hamlet  and  harbor  of  Rio  de  San  Diogo,  fifty 
miles  south  from  San  Cristoval,  then  to  strike  north  to  the 
town  of  Passos,  twenty  miles  west  of  San  Cristoval.  Once 
past  Sam  Diego,  I  would  be  well  within  the  rebel  lines,  and 
could  safely  show  myself,  although  I  determined  not  to  do 
so  voluntarily  until  I  was  at  Passos. 

The  roundabout  way  I  was  traveling  doubled  the  distance, 
but,  aside  from  getting  outside  the  lines  of  the  Spanish  pa- 
trols, I  was  in  no  particular  hurry,  and  my  mode  of  life  was 
hardening  and  fitting  me  for  the  service  in  which  I  was  to 
embark.  I  counted  upon  taking  ten  days,  or  rather  nights, 
to  reach  San  Diego,  and  five  from  there  to  Passos,  where  I 
would  make  myself  known  to  the  rebel  chiefs  as  an  American 
volunteer  in  the  cause  of  Cuban  liberty.  And,  I  thought, 
what  a  change  of  scene  for  Mr.  F.  A.  Warren.  From  the 
Bank  of  England  to  a  volunteer  in  a  rebel  camp  in  Cuba! 

I  crossed  the  road  and  entered  the  jungle  to  pass  the  dav, 
but  as  the  ground  was  dry  the  trees  and  vines  were  not  so 
closely  matted,  making  it  easier  to  move  about,  and  a  far 
morel  agreeable  place  it    was  for  a  daylight  picnic  than  the 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  361 

jungle  where  I  had  passed  the  day  before.  But  no  crabs 
showed  the-  vselves,  and  as  there  was  no  animal  life  to  be 
found,  ther*^  was  nothing  but  my  piece  of  dried  beef  to  be 
had  "to  go  into  the  interior,"  so  I  dined  off  that;  then,  light- 
ing one  of  my  precious  cigars,  lay  down  in  a  sort  of  fairy 
bower  to  enjoy  myself,  and  succeeded.  During  the  entire  day 
no  sight  or  sound  of  human  form  or  voice  came  to  me,  nor 
yet  of  animal  life,  save  only  a  mateless  bird,  garbed  in  green 
that  flitted  around.  Of  course,  not  a  drop  of  water  this 
whole  day  long  for  me,  and,  though  I  was  moderately  thirsty, 
I  did  not  suffer,  despite  the  fact  that  I  smoked  several  cigars. 
But  I  felt  that  I  must  have  food  and  drink  that  night,  what- 
ever risk  I  incurred  in  securing  it.  I  determined,  therefore, 
to  start  early  on  my  journey  and  get  food  before  the  coun- 
try people  were  all  in  bed.  As  soon  as  night  fell  I  stepped 
out  on  the  road  and  cautiously  started  westward.  Knowing 
there  must  be  some  town  or  hamlet  near  by,  I  purposed 
to  enter,  spy  out  some  shop  and  watch  until  the  shop- 
keeper was  alone,  then  enter  and  purchase  a  supply  of 
such  food  as  he  had,  then  march  out  and  disappear  as 
quickly  as  posible. 

Soon  after  starting  I  came  to  a  small  place  such  as  the 
poor  whites  of  the  country  inhabit,  and  seeing  two  women 
in  the  doorway  I  walked  in,  and  with  a  salute  and  "Buenas 
noches,  senoritas,"  I  asked  for  water  (agua) ;  they  responded 
with  alacrity  and  brought  me  some  in  a  cocoanut  shell.  I 
saw  it  was  vile  stuflf,  with  an  earthy  taste,  but  thirsty  as  I  was 
it  tasted  \i^~'  nectar.  There  was  some  food  on  a  wooden 
dish  inside,  md  I  suppose  they  saw  me  looking  at  it,  for  the 
older  woma.i  ran  in  and  returned  bringing  me  two  roasted 
plantains  and  a  rice  cake.  Just  then  I  discovered  a  man  in- 
side and  two  others  came  up  from  the  rear  of  the  house,  or  I 
would  have  purchased  food  of  the  women ;  but,  seeing  them, 
I  thanked  the  ladies,  and,  saying  good  night,  disappeared  in 
th§  darkness.    Picking  up  the  amply  bottle  I  had  left  in  the 


362  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

road  I  walked  on,  feasting  as  I  went  on  my  roasted  plan- 
tains.    How  nice  they  tasted! 

A  mile  ahead  I  came  to  a  tumbledown  roadhouse,  with 
quite  a  crowd  of  loud-voiced  men  standing  around,  who  evi- 
dently had  been  indulging  in  the  fiery  aguardiente  sold  there. 
Like  the  Levite  and  priest,  I  passed  by  on  the  other  side, 
giving  the  place  a  wide  berth.  Soon  after  I  entered  a  town 
or  hamlet  of  a  dozen  houses.  Two  or  three  passed  me  in  the 
darkness  with  a  "Buenas  noches,  senor,"  to  which  I  mum- 
bled some  reply,  they  doubtless  taking  me  for  a  neighbor. 
Two  uniformed  men,  evidently  police  or  soldiers,  were  loung- 
ing in  the  only  shop,  and  I  dared  not  enter  until  they  were 
gone.  Planting  myself  in  a  deep  shadow,  I  sat  down  waiting 
for  them  to  go  out,  but  they  showed  no  sign  of  moving  until 
a  shrill  voice  from  a  female  throat  issued  from  a  nearby 
house,  bidding  one  of  the  loungers  to  lounge  no  more  Just 
then,  and  he,  hurriedly  obeying  the  summons,  went;  soon 
his  companion  followed;  then,  leaving  my  empty  bottle  in 
the  road,  and  with  my  hand  on  the  revolver  in  my  outside 
pocket,  I  entered  the  shop.  The  easy-going  Cuban  shop- 
keeper paid  no  particular  attention  to  me,  did  not  even 
stop  rolling  the  cigarette  he  was  making.  After  deliberately 
lighting  it,  he  lazily  responded  to  my  "Buenas  noches,  senor," 
1  saw  bread,  cakes  and  ham,  and  ordered  of  each ;  then,  see- 
ing some  Spanish  wine,  I  took  a  bottle;  also  a  bottle  of 
pickles.  Producing  a  $io  Spanish  bank  note,  I  paid  the  bill, 
and  emerged  into  the  night  with  the  precious  load,  and  so 
strong  was  the  animal  instinct  of  hunger  upon  me  that  I 
would  have  fought  to  death  sooner  than  surrender  the  pro- 
visions I  carried. 

Picking  up  my  empty  bottle  I  looked  out  for  a  chance  to 
fill  it  as  I  walked  through  the  town  on  the  main  road,  which 
went  straight  west,  but  intending  to  abandon  it  as  soon  as  I 
came  to  the  fields  and  found  it  was  safe  to  sit  down  for  a 
feast,  then  make  my  way  to  the  beach,  now  some  two  miles 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  363 

away,  and  put  in  a  good  distance  before  daylight.  But  for 
two  mortal  hours  the  road  was  bordered  by  impenetrable 
walls  of  cactus  and  bayonet  grass,  and  to  make  the  matter 
worse  the  moon  came  out  from  behind  the  clouds  and  poured 
a  flood  of  light  on  the  open  road.  Twice  men  on  horseback 
passed  me,  coming  from  the  opposite  direction,  and  both 
times  I  sank  down  in  the  shadow  of  the  cactus,  both  times 
with  revolver  in  hand,  but  dreading  an  encounter,  as  the  noise 
of  firing  might  wake  a  hornets'  nest  about  my  ears. 

At  last  I  came  to  a  road  which  entered  a  field.  I  was  soon 
over  the  bars  and  found  myself  in  an  old  tobacco  plantation, 
now  partly  planted  in  Spanish  beans.  Crossing  a  couple  of 
fields  at  the  foot  of  the  hills  and  in  going  over  a  triangular 
piece  of  ground,  I  found  the  ruins  of  a  house,  and  nearby  a 
small  stream  of  water.  I  was  in  luck,  and,  taking  a  good 
drink  and  filling  my  bottle,  I  sat  down  in  a  convenient  shad- 
ow and  spread  out  my  eatables.  They  were  a  goodly  sight, 
and  consisted  of  four  pounds  of  good  ham,  a  dozen  good- 
sized  sweet  cakes,  two  loaves  of  bread,  a  bottle  of  pickles  and 
one  of  wine,  and  one  of  water.  I  began  with  a  drink  of  wine, 
then  followed  ham  and  bread  and  cake  for  dessert,  all  washed 
down  with  a  firie  long  drink  of  water.  Then  lighting  a  cigar 
I  stretched  myself  at  full  length  and  spent  a  delightful  hour 
star-gazing. 

Then  I  arose,  took  another  drink  of  wine^  but  as  it  was 
not  particularly  select,  threw  the  remainder  away,  and,  filling 
both  bottles  from  the  brook,  I  prepared  to  march. 

How  I  wish  the  kodak  fiend  existed  then  and  that  one  of 
them  had  happened  along  just  then  to  take  a  snap  shot  at 
me  as  I  stood  there  in  full  marching  order,  with  my  water 
bottles  slung  over  my  shoulders,  my  eatables  tied  up  in  a 
large  silk  handkerchief,  with  my  garments  all  in  tatters,  the 
result  of  thorns  and  creepers  snatching  at  them  in  my  jungle 
trampings;  but,  worst  of  all,  my  trusty  and  precious  walking 
boots  were  beginning  to  show  signs  of  rou^h  usage. 


364  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

I  struck  the  road  leading  to  the  beach  and  marched  west- 
ward, but  it  was  an  unknown  land,  and  I  was  in  constant 
fear  of  running  against  some  military  post  or  patrol,  being 
thus  constantly  delayed  by  long  halts  to  watch  some  suspi- 
cious object  or  by  making  long  detours  to  avoid  them.  Once 
I  had  a  fright.  Two  men  on  horseback  riding  on  the  sandy 
road  were  almost  on  me  before  I  saw  or  heard  them,  and  I 
only  had  time  to  sink  into  the  shadow  as  they  passed  almost 
within  reach  of  my  hand.  Both  were  smoking  the  everlast- 
ing cigarette,  and  were  engaged  in  earnest  talk.  Daylight 
came  and  found  me  not  more  than  eight  or  ten  miles  further 
on  my  journey,  but  I  was  very  well  content  as  I  pitched  my 
camp  for  the  day.  I  had  a  royal  feast,  then,  after  a  cigar, 
lay  down  to  sleep  in  another  fairy  bower  and  slept  until  noon, 
and  awoke  to  find  myself  wondering  how  matters  were  go- 
ing with  Capt  Curtin  in  Havana,  rather  B.mused  over  the 
state  of  chagrin  I  knew  he  must  be  in.  I  thought  of  a  pos- 
sible future  meeting  some  years  ahead,  when,  all  danger  over, 
I  would  see  and  chaff  him  over  a  bottle  of  Cliquot  and  the 
$50,000  he  wouldn't  have,  and  how  I  went  ail  the  same  and 
saved  the  money. 

I  realized  I  must  be  frugal  or  my  provisions  would  never 
hold  out;  so,  after  a  light  lunch,  I  began  to  make  my  way 
slowly  to  the  beach  through  the  tangled  maze  of  trees  and 
vines.  Coming  in  sight  of  the  blue  waters  I  lay  down  to 
sleep  again  and  awoke  when  the  stars  were  out.  The  moon 
would  not  go  down  till  late,  but  as  there  was  a  deep,  broad 
shadow  cast  by  the  trees  I  walked  in  it. 

Good  food  and  the  long  day  of  rest  restored  my  strength. 
All  my  confidence  returned,  and  I  made  good  progress.  At 
last  the  moon  went  down,  and  then  I  pressed  rapidly  forward. 
always  with  revolver  in  hand,  ready  for  instant  action.  I 
think  I  made  fully  twenty-five  miles  this  night,  but  as  the 
coast  was  indented  my  progress  in  a  straight  direction  was 
not  more  than  half  that  distance.    Just  as  it  began  to  grow 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  865 

gray  in  the  east  I  came  out  on  a  wide  inlet.  It  ran  deep  into 
the  land.  I  recognized  it  from  my  map  as  Puerto  del  Gato, 
and  then  I  knew  I  was  in  the  province  of  Pinar  del  Rio  and 
almost  out  of  danger. 

I  went  into  the  bush  again  and  pitched  camp,  waiting  for 
daylight  to  come  and  reveal  my  surroundings.  Pitching 
camp  consisted  in  scraping  a  few  leaves  together  and  lying 
down;  but  this  morning  I  was  too  excited  to  sleep.  I  felt 
that  I  was  near  my  goal,  after  having  safely  gone  through 
many  dangers.  Once  across  the  Puerto  del  Gato,  two  nights 
of  travel  would  place  me  outside  of  the  farthest  Spanish  pick- 
ets and  bring  me  among  friends,  far  beyond  chance  of  pur- 
suit, and  I  also  knew  that  the  mere  knowledge  of  my  presence 
in  the  rebel  camp  would  cause  all  thought  of  pursuit  to  be 
dropped. 

When  daylight  came  I  stood  and  looked  around.  Across 
the  inlet,  twenty  miles  away,  I  could  see  only  dark  masses 
of  green,  with  no  sign  of  life.  To  the  north  the  land  was 
hilly,  with  house!^  here  and  there  in  the  distance,  and  signs 
of  animal  life.  I  cautiously  searched  the  shore  for  a  mile  in 
the  hope  of  finding  a  boat  to  cross  to  the  other  shore  of  the 
inlet,  but  none  was  in  sight 

About  9  o'clock  I  saw  smoke  ofif  at  sea,  and  soon  I  made 
out  a  small  Spanish  gunboat  coming  rapidly  up.  Dropping 
anchor  about  a  mile  up  the  inlet,  she  sent  a  boat  ashore.  I 
was  feeling  sleepy,  and,  going  into  the  woods  again,  I  took  a 
light  lunch,  and,  emptying  one  bottle  of  water,  lay  down  to 
sleep,  resolved  to  make  my  plans  when  I  awoke.  I  did  not 
like  the  appearance  of  this  gunboat;  it  seemed  to  promise 
the  presence  of  the  enemy  in  force  around  me,  besides  being 
a  visible  manifestation  of  the  pov/er  of  that  enemy. 

When  I  awoke  from  my  nap  I  started  on  a  cautious  spy- 
ing out  of  the  land,  making  my  way  toward  the  head  of  the 
inlet,  but  keeping  always  under  the  protection  of  the  woods. 
While  going  cautiously  along  I  was  startled  by  the  notes  of 


866  FROM  WALLi  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

a  bugle  ringing  out  some  military  call  not  far  away,  and  a 
moment  later  the  gunboat  replied  with  a  gun,  then  steamed 
out  to  sea.  Continuing  my  progress  through  the  woods 
I  came  to  the  road,  and,  hiding  securely  in  a  thicket  where  I 
could  see  unseen,  I  watched.  Soon  I  heard  the  sound  of 
voices,  and  then  a  detail  of  armed  men  passed,  going  leisurely 
east,  escorting  an  empty  wagon  drawn  by  four  mules.  It 
meant  much,  these  armed  escorts,  showing  they  were  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy.  Several  others  passed  during  the  hour 
of  my  watch.  Then,  with  many  cautious  glances  up  and 
down  the  road,  I  slipped  quietly  across  and  crept  for  two 
hours  through  the  jungle.  IVIaking  my  Avay  to  the  side  of 
the  bay,  I  saw  that  I  had  left  the  military  post  behind  me. 
There  were  white  barracks  and  a  wharf  with  people  walking 
on  it,  and  here  the  road  and  beach  were  one.  This  much 
discovered,  I  went  a  safe  distance  into  the  jungle  and  lay 
down  to  have  a  good  sleep,  feeling  I  would  need  all  my  en- 
ergy and  strength  for  the  coming  night,  as  it  promised  to  be 
a  critical  one,  especially  as  I  could  not  afford  to  wait  for  the 
moon  to  go  down,  and  would  not  have  the  shelter  of  dark- 
ness, for  the  moonlight  was  so  powerful  that  one  could  easily 
read  print  by  it. 

I  slept  until  dark,  and  awoke  refreshed,  then  lunched  and 
nearly  finished  my  last  bottle  of  water.  I  had  only  sufficient 
food  for  two  more  light  meals.  After  lunch  I  smoked  for  an 
hour,  star-gazing  and  philosophizing.  At  9  o'clock,  emerg- 
ing into  the  road,  I  started  cautiouslv  out,  \^'alking'  in  the 
shadow"  of  the  jungle  as  much  as  possible.  I  thought  the 
head  of  the  inlet  was  about  ten  miles  away,  and  expected 
to  find  a  military  post  or  at  least  a  picket  stationed  there. 

Daylight  once  more.  But  it  found  me  happy  and  content, 
for  the  difficulties  of  the  passage  of  the  wide  inlet,  which  had 
confronted  me  the  night  before,  had  all  been  surmounted. 
I  was  now  in  a  densely  wooded  point  on  the  western  side  of 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  367 

the  bay.  Between  me  and  San  Diego  lay  a  wild  no  man's 
land  of  fifty  miles.  That  meant  only  two  nights  more  of 
peril  and  uncertainty,  and  it  was  all  straight  going.  So  far 
as  the  coast  line  was  concerned  I  was  outside  of  the  Spanish 
lines.  Tired  out  and  very  well  contented,  just  as  the  sun 
rose  fiery  red  above  the  horizon,  I  lay  down  and  was  at  once 
in  dreamland.  At  noon,  hungry  and  with  only  a  few  ounces 
of  food  to  satisfy  my  hunger,  I  woke.  Finishing  my  last 
bit  of  ham  and  bread,  I  lighted  a  cigar  and  set  about  plan- 
ning. Pulling  out  my  little  map,  I  began  to  scan  iti  for  the 
thousandth  time.  About  six  miles  to  the  north  was  the  lit- 
tle town  of  San  Miguel.  Between  me  and  San  Diego  lay  fifty 
miles  of  wild  country  swept  by  fire  and  sword,  without  an 
inhabitant  and  without  food.  Hungry  as  I  already  was,  I  felt 
it  would  not  do  to  undertake  a  two  days'  journey  through 
that  wilderness  without  eating.  Of  course  I  made  a  mistake. 
I  was  clear  of  the  toils,  and  I  ought  to  have  taken  every  and 
any  chance  rather  than  enter  the  enemy's  lines  again. 

I  resolved,  soon  after  night  came,  to  set  out  for  San  Mig- 
uel, watch  my  chance  to  enter  a  shop  and  purchase  food, 
then,  beating  a  hasty  retreat,  strike  out  across  the  country 
straight  for  San  Diego,  there  to  find  myself  among  friends 
"in  the  rebel  camp, 

I  set  out  and  without  any  particular  adventure  arrived 
j.bout  9  o'clock  at  San  Miguel.  It  proved  to  be  a  hamlet 
fv^ith  the  houses  ranged  close  together  on  opposite  sides  of 
the  streets.  The  moonlight  cast  a  deep  shadow  on  one  side, 
while  the  opposite  side  was  almost  like  day.  I  stoodi  in  the 
deep  shadow  watching.  The  first  building  was  evidently  a 
police  or  military  barrack.  The  door  was  wide  open,  but  no 
one  was  visible  inside.  About  five  doors  off  was  a  shop, 
but  the  door  was  closed,  and  from  where  I  stood  there  ap- 
peared no  sign  of  life  within.  I  waited  about  ten  minutes, 
and  rashly  concluding  that  there  was  no  one  save  the  pro- 
prietor there,  I  stepped  out  of  the  shadow  into  the  moonlight 


368  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

and  hurrying  across  the  street,  put  my  hand  on  the  door, 
opened  it  and  stepping  within  found  myself  in  the  presence 
of  twenty  soldiers,  all  gossiping,  smoking  or  gambling.  Belts 
and  cartridge  boxes  along  w^th  bayonets  decorated  the  walls 
or  were  lying  about  on  boxes  and  barrels. 

All  eyes  were  turned  on  me.  I  saw  myself  in  a  fearful  trap 
and  nothing  but  consummate  coolness  could  keep  them  from 
questioning  me.  My  heart  beat  fast,  but  with  an  affecta- 
tion of  indifference  I  saluted  and  said:  "Buenos  noches,  se- 
nores."  They  all  returned  my  salutation,  but  looked  at  each 
other  eagerly,  each  waiting  for  the  other  to  question  me. 

I  stepped  to  the  counter  and  asked  for  bread ;  two  loaves 
were  given  me.  I  picked  up  some  cakes  and  paid  for  them. 
From  the  door  I  turned,  and  putting  all  my  dignity  into  a 
bow,  I  said:  "Good  night,  gentlemen."  They  all  seemed 
held  by  a  spell,  but  they  looked  and  were  dangerous  as  death. 
I  closed  the  door,  fully  realizing  my  peril,  feeling  the  storm 
would  brealc  the  instant  I  was  out  of  sight.  Fortunately 
there  was  no  one  near,  and  I  ran  swiftly  across  the  street 
into  the  protecting  shadow  and  crouched  down  in  a  dark 
space  between  two  houses.  The  cactus-like  weeds  grew 
there  and  pricked  me,  but  I  heeded  them  not,  for  that  instant 
the  soldiers  poured  out  of  the  shop,  an  angry  and  excited 
mob,  buckling  on  their  belts,  cartridge  boxes  and  bayonets 
as  they  ran.  Some  had  their  muskets,  others  hastened  to 
get  them  and  al!  save  two  stragglers  rushed  out  of  the  town  in 
the  direction  from  which  I  had  entered.  I  wondered  at  this, 
but  soon  discovered  the  reason.  Some  few  women,  hearing 
the  tumult,  came  into  the  street,  but  seeing  nothing,  went 
in  again;  the  stragglers  all  disappeared  and  the  street  was 
quiet. 

I  came  out  of  my  comer  and  hurried  in  the  shadow  down 
the  road  in  the  opposite  direction  to  the  course  followed  by 
my  pursuers.  Arriving  at  the  last  house  at  the  foot  of  the 
street,  I  found  myself  confronted  by  a  small  river,  quiet  and 


■VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  369 

apparently  deep,  with  all  the  space  from  the  last  house  to 
the  river  one  impassable  barrier  of  <2:iant  cactus,  I  had  either 
to  swim  the  river  or  turn  back,  and  I  ought  to  have  plunged 
in  as  I  was,  revolver  and  all,  the  distance  over  being  short; 
and,  as  I  am  an  expert  swimmer,  I  could  easily  have  got 
across,  loaded  down  as  I  was.  But  a  contemptible  trifle  had 
weight  enough  to  cause  me  to  adopt  the  suicidal  course  of 
turning  back. 

The  fierce  animal  instinct  of  hunger  was  on  me,  the  smell 
of  the  food  enraged  me,  and  I  thought  if  I  swam  the  stream 
the  cakes  and  bread  I  carried  would  be  soaked  and  probably 
lost,  for  I  had  them  loose  in  my  arms;  beside,  I  was  over- 
confident of  my  ability  to  escape  my  pursuers.  They  had 
marched  by  the  road  that  led  behind  the  village  to  the  bridge 
crossing  the  river  some  distance  up;  evidently,  not  seeing 
me,  they  took  it  for  granted  I  knew  of  the  bridge,  and  had 
gone  that  way. 

To  appease  at  once  my  hunger,  in  a  fatal  moment  I  re- 
traced my  steps.  As  I  passed  a  house  three  women  came 
out.  They  spoke  to  me,  and  in  my  excitement,  instead  of 
saying  good  evening  in  Spanish  (buenas  noches),  I  said 
good  morning  (buenas  dias).  They,  of  course,  saw  I  was  a 
stranger. 

Just  then  four  soldiers  came  hurriedly  into  the  street  from 
the  road,  and  I  was  forced  to  leave  the  women  and  crouch 
down  in  my  former  hiding  place.  Then  they  did  what 
women  seldom  do — betrayed  the  fugitive.  Calling  to  the 
soldiers,  they  pointed  out  the  place  I  was  in.  All  four  came 
running,  and  in  a  moment  were  almost  on  top  of  me.  I  pre- 
sented my  revolver  and  snapped  the  trigger  twice  without 
exploding  the  cartridges ;  they  were  too  close  or  too  excited 
to  use  their  muskets,  but  all  four  grappled  with  me,  and  nat- 
urally used  me  pretty  roughly. 

There  was  a  terrific  hullabaloo,  as  in  response  to  their  cries 
their  comrades  came  running  in.       By  the  time  they  had 


370  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

hustled  me  across  the  street  into  the  shop  there  was  a  mob 
of  half  a  hundred  around  me.  Soon  the  commander,  a  cap- 
tain, appeared.  I  wish  I  could  say  he  was  a  gentleman,  but 
he  was  not.  He  was  a  little,  peppery  young  fellow,  appar- 
ently with  negro  blood  in  his  veins,  and  dictatorial  and  insult- 
ing in  manner. 

Surely  I  was  an  object — a  tramp  in  appearance — but  with 
a  diamond  ring  on  my  finger  (which  I  had  taken  from  my 
pocket  and  slipped  on),  a  revolver  strapped  to  my  waist  and 
a  splendid  chronometer  in  my  pocket.  Such  an  object  had 
never  before  loomed  on  their  horizon.  Was  not  one  glance 
enough  to  show  that  I  must  be  a  notable  rebel,  and  there 
was  but  one  doom  for,  such. 

My  desperate  situation  cast  out  all  fear,  and  I  was  cold  and 
haughty.  Flourishing  my  police  passport,  I  informed  him 
that  I  was  Stanley  W.  Parish  of  New  York,  a  correspondent 
of  the  New  York  Herald,  and  he  had  better  look  out  what 
he  was  about. 

But  it  was  evident  that  police  passports  made  out  in  Har 
\'ana  had  no  currency  in  the  face  of  the  enemy ;  but  at  any  rate 
it  proved  that  whatever  my  intentions  might  be,  I  had  at 
least  hailed  last  from  Havana,  and  not  from  the  rebel  camp, 
and  this  would  prevent  my  peppery  captain  from  enjoying 
the  pleasure  of  standing  me  up  in  the  morning  to  be  fusil- 
laded, such  being  the  law  for  all  captives  in  the  savage  contest. 

Down  my  gentleman  sat  on  a  barrel,  pompous  and  im- 
portant, and  ordered  me  to  be  searched.  All  this  time  a 
dozen  hands  were  holding  me  fast.  I  told  my  oflficer  he  was 
a  fool  and  a  clown,  but  my  captors  began  to  go  through  my 
pockets,  and  speedily  there  was  a  heap  of  gold  and  paper 
money  on  the  barrel,  and  my  little  f-iend  fingered  it  with  a 
covetous  eye.  I  had  my  $10,000  in  bonds  pinned  in  the 
sleeve  of  my  undershirt.  This  they  missed,  but  found  all 
else  I  carried.  In  the  mean  time  there  was  an  eager  audience 
looking  on,  absorbed  in  the  interest  of  the  scene. 


VIA  THE   PRIMROSE  WAY.  371 

There  was  a  collection  indeed  on  that  barrel.  Beside  my 
ring,  there  were  five  other  valuable  diamonds,  my  chronome- 
ter, which  with  its  regular  beat  and  stem-winding  arrange- 
ment was  a  great  curiosity.  Then  the  heap  of  money  was 
a  loadstone  for  all  their  hungry  eyes.  The  captain  was  mak- 
ing out  an  inventory  and  statement,  while  I  stood  white  with 
rage  to  see  the  half-breeds,  blacks,  browns  and  yellows, 
handle  my  property  so  freely.  I  was  especially  in  a  rage 
with  the  impudent  captain,  who  had  the  nerve  to  put  my 
watch  in  his  pocket.  Absorbed  by  the  interest  of  the  scene, 
my  captors  had  insensibly  loosened  their  hold,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  have  some  satisfaction  out  of  the  captain.  Sud- 
denly seizing  one  of  the  revolvers  before  I  could  be  stopped 
I  gave  him  a  stinging  blow  with  it  and  sprang  on  him.  We 
rolled  on  the  floor,  and  there  was  a  scene.  I  was  dragged 
ofT  by  fifty  hands,  every  one  trying  to  seize  me,  if  only  by  one 
hand.  My  captain  got  up  with  the  blood  running  down  his 
face,  and,  rushing  to  a  peg,  he  seized  a  sabre  bayonet  and 
flew  at  me  like  a  mad  bull.  I  shouted  at  him  in  Spanish, 
calling  him  a  cur  and  coward,  bidding  him  to  come  on.  He 
was  not  unwilling,  while  my  captors  held  me  firmly  exposed 
to  his  assault.  Another  second  would  have  ended  my  life, 
when  a  woman  spectator,  who  stood  near  nursing  a  child, 
threw  her  arms  around  him;  this,  joined  to  my  indifference, 
for  I  continued  my  jeers  and  taunts,  changed  his  purpose,  to 
my  disappointment,  for  I  preferred  death  to  going  back  to 
Havana. 


"From  Wall  Street  to  Newgate"  is  replete  with  stirring 
incidents,  marvelous  adventures,  hair-breadth  escapes  and 
remarkable  experiences,  such  as  few  men  have  met  with. 
Thev  are  narrated  in  any  easy,  picturesque  style,  evincing 
sincerity  and  candor,  with  no  attempt  at  sensation  or  exag- 
geration. The  truth  told  is  stranger  than  fiction,  and  his- 
tory may  well  be  challenged  to  produce  another  life  into 
which  has  come  so  many  varied  and  bewildering  events,  or 
to  disclose  another  character,  trained  in  a  religious  home, 
having  culture  and  an  unusual  business  talent,  whose  deflec- 
tion from  the  path  of  honor  has  stirred  to  its  very  depths  the 
entire  civilized  world. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

ONE  LOVELY  JUNE  MORNING  INTO  PLYMOUTH   HARBOR 

WE  SAIL. 

Ten  days  after  the  events  recorded  in  the  last  chapter  I 
sailed  once  more  into  Havana.  This  time  a  prisoner.  Two 
days  after  my  capture,  by  order  of  the  Captain-General  of 
Cuba,  I  was  put  on  board  the  little  gunboat  Santa  Rita,  a 
wretched  little  tub  that  steamed  four  miles  an  hour  and  took 
eight  days  going  from  Puerto  Novo  on  the  south  to  Ha- 
vana. 

I  was  taken  by  a  guard  of  soldiers,  not  to  the  police  bar- 
racks, but  to  the  common  prison,  where  an  entire  corridor 
was  cleared  of  its  inmates  to  make  room  for  me  and  my 
guards.  Pinkerton  was  the  first  man  to  call.  He,  of 
course,  was  delighted  to  see  me.  While  giving  me  credit 
for  my  escape,  he  told  me  he  did  not  purpose  to  have  me 
leave  him  again,  and  having  permission  from  the  authorities, 
he  or  some  of  his  men  intended  to  keep  me  company  night 
and  day.  Of  course  I  respected  him  for  his  honest  deter- 
mination to  do  his  duty.  He  really  was  an  altogether  good 
fellow,  and  showed  me  all  possible  courtesy  and  considera- 
tion; in  fact,  on  his  first  visit  he  brought  me  a  letter  from 
my  wife,  along  with  a  box  of  cigars  and  a  bottle  of  wine  on 
his  own  account 

One  of  his  men,  by  the  name  of  Perry,  used  to  sleep  in  my 
little  room  with  me,  and  every  morning  Mr.  P.  would  relieve 
him,  remaining  until  dinner  time.    We  kad  many  long  talks 
(372) 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  373 

on  all  sorts  of  subjects,  and  he  gave  me  many  inside  histories 
of  famous  criminal  cases  which  he  had  been  engaged  in. 
In  time  we  became  very  good  friends. 

He  also  gave  me  full  particulars  of  the  really  extraordinary 
way  in  which  he  discovered  my  presence  in  the  West  Indies 
and  the  reason  which  led  him  to  conclude  that  F.  A.  Warren 
and  I  were  one.  William  Pinkerton  ordered  him  to  look 
up  the  New  York  end  of  the  business  and  see  if  he  could 
discover  the  identity  of  Warren.  He  was  one  of  the  many 
working  on  the  case,  but  to  him  belongs  the  credit  of  estab- 
lishing my  identity,  also  of  locating  my  whereabouts  and  of 
eflfecting  my  arrest. 

When  ordered  on  the  case  he  knew  no  more  about  me  or 
the  forgery  than  what  he  read  in  the  newspapers.  He  soon 
made  up  his  mind  that  I  was  an  American,  and  that  I  was  a. 
resident  either  of  New  York  or  Chicago.  This  because  I 
was  so  young  and  evidently  had  a  good  knowledge  of 
finance  and  financial  matters.  So  he  determined  to  seek  for 
a  clue  to  F.  A.  Warren  in  Wall  street.  He  procured  a  list 
of  the  names  of  every  banker  and  broker  in  New  York,  and 
then  spent  some  time  in  interviewing  them,  his  one  question 
being  "Now,  who  is  he?"  With  their  assistance  he  soon 
made  out  a  list  of  nearly  twenty  possible  Warrens,  and 
speedily  narrowed  it  down  to  four,  my  name  being  one  of 
the  four.  He  soon  located  my  home,  and  began  making 
cautious  inquiries  on  the  spot  from  neighbors  and  others. 
He  discovered  that  I  was  believed  to  be  in  Europe,  and 
had  been  there  before,  and  that  when  I  last  returned  I  had 
paid  off  debts  and  apparently  had  plenty  of  money.  He 
had  become  convinced  of  my  identity,  but  if  I  were  Warren 
— ^where  was  I? 

Without  arousing  suspicion,  he  heard  from  some  of  my 
acquaintances  a  saying  of  mine  that  whenever  I  had  a  bank 
account,  I  should  live  in  the  tropics.  So  he  reported  to  his 
superiors  that  in  his  opinion  F.  A.  Warren  and  I  were  one. 


374  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

and  he  believed  that,  if  in  America  at  all,  I  might  be  found 
at  some  fashionable  resort  in  Florida. 

He  concluded  to  go  to  Florida,  and  visit  the  various  re- 
sorts. Upon  his  arrival  at  St,  Augustine,  he  sent  letters  to 
several  of  the  West  India  islands,  including  Martinique,  Ja- 
maica and  Cuba,  inquiring  for  the  names  and  descriptions  of 
all  wealthy  young  Americans  lately  arrived.  One  letter  he 
sent  to  Dr.  C.  L.  Houscomb,  then  the  leading  American  doc- 
tor in  Havana,  who,  replying  to  his  inquiry,  gave  my  name 
among  others.  After  my  arrest  Dr.  Houscomb  told  me  how 
grieved  he  was  to  have  betrayed  me,  but  that  he  thought 
that  Pinkerton  was  a  newspaper  man,  and  wanted  the  in- 
formation as  a  matter  of  news. 

With  this  letter  in  his  hand,  Pinkerton  found  a  plain 
path  before  him.  To  go  ahead  of  my  story  a  little,  I  will 
say  here  that  eventually  the  bank  authorities  made  him  a 
considerable  present  in  cash,  along  with  their  congratula- 
tions over  his  clever  detective  work.  Capt.  John  Curtin  is 
to-day  well  and  hearty,  a  prosperous  man  and  very  generally 
respected  by  the  citizens  of  San  Francisco,  where  he  lives. 

About  ten  days  after  my  arrival  he  brought  me  a  New 
York  Herald  containing  these  dispatches: 

(Special  to  New  York  Herald.) 

Madrid,  April  12,  1873. 
The  American  Ambassador,  Gen.  Sickles,  has  formally 
notified  Senor  Castelar  that  the  American  Grovernment  will 
consent  to  the  surrender  to  the  British  Government  of  Bid- 
well,  now  under  arrest  in  Havana  upon  charge  of  being  con- 
cerned in  the  Bank  of  England  forgery. 

(Special  to  New  York  Herald.) 

London,  April  12,  1873. 
To  the  great  gratification  of  the  authorities  here,  official 
confirmation  is  given  to  the  rumor  that  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment has  concluded  to  grant  the  extradition  of  BidweH,  now 
under  arrest  in  Havana.    There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  375 

Bidwell  is  the  mysterious  Frederick  Albert  Warren,  and 
there  is  a  very  genera]  curiosity  to  see  him.  Many  con- 
flicting stories  have  been  pubHshed  of  his  extraordinary 
escape  and  equally  extraordinary  capture.  The  Times'  re- 
port had  it  that  he  was  mortally  wounded,  and  that  he  had  on 
his  person  when  captured  diamonds  to  an  enormous  value, 
which  had  disappeared  soon  after.  Sergeants  Hayden  and 
Green  of  the  Bow  Street  force  and  Mr.  Good  of  the  Bank  of 
England  sail  on  the  Java  to-morrow  to  escort  Bidwell  to 
London. 

So  the  web  was  closing  in  on  me.  Of  my  daily  sad  inter- 
views with  my  wife  I  will  say  nothing  here.  But  could  I 
have  foreseen  that  this  woman,  on  whom  I  had  settled  a  for- 
tune, would  have  married  another  soon  after  my  sentence,  I 
should  not  have  felt  so  sorrowful  on  her  account.  In  due  time 
Green,  Hayden  and  Good  arrived,  and  were  introduced  to 
me.  I  did  not  give  in,  but  made,  by  the  aid  of  my 
friends,  a  hard  fight  to  persuade  the  Captain- General  to  sus- 
pend the  order  for  my  delivery,  and  succeeded  for  a  time. 

At  last,  after  many  delays  and  many  plans,  early  one  May 
morning  I  was  taken  to  the  mouth  of  the  harbor.  There 
the  boat  of  the  English  warship  Vulture  was  in  waiting,  and 
I  was  formally  transferred  to  the  English  Government,  and 
Curtin.  Perry,  Hayden  and  Green  went  on  board  with  me. 
Soon  after  she  steamed  out  of  the  harbor.  Later  in  the  day 
the  Moselle,  the  regular  passenger  steamer  to  Plymouth 
and  Southampton,  came  out,  and  about  ten  miles,  out  at  sea 
was  met  by  the  Vulture's  boat,  and  I  and  my  four  guardians 
were  transferred  to  her. 

At  last  I  was  oiT  for  England,  and  it  looked  very  much 
as  if  Justice  would  weigh  me  in  her  balance  after  all,  the 
more  certainly  because  I  found  my  wife  on  the  Aloselle.  I 
had  secretly  resolved  never  to  be  taken  back,  but  intended 
the  first  night  out  of  Havana  to  jump  overboard,  possibly 
with  a  cork  jacket,  or  something  to  help  to  keep  me  afloat. 
The  waters  of  the  gulf  were  warm,  there  were  many  passing 


S76  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO   NEWGATK 

ships,  and  I  would  take  my  chance  of  surviving  the  night 
and  being  picked  up.  But,  very  cleverly,  Curtin  decided  to 
send  my  wife  with  me  and  treat  me  like  any  other  cabin 
passenger,  rightly  divining  I  would  not  kill  her  by  commit- 
ting suicide  or  going  over  the  side  on  chances. 

I  was  well,  treated  all  the  way  over,  but  every  night  my 
prayer  was  that  we  might  run  on  an  iceberg  or  go  down, 
so  that  my  wife  might  be  spared  long  years  of  agony  and  me 
from  the  misery  and  degradation  of  prison  life. 

I  had  obtained  a  position  in  Havana  for  one  of  my  serv- 
ants, but  Nunn  was  returning  with  me,  feeling  very  badly 
and  most  unhappy  over  the  sure  prospect  of  my  future  mis- 
ery. I  was  pleased  to  think  he  had  held  on  to  the  money 
I  had  given  him.  Altogether,  he  was  quite  $2,coo  ahead, 
and  I  wanted  to  make  it  $5,000.  He  certainly  deserved  it 
for  his  constancy  and  affection. 

One  lovely  Tune  day  we  sailed  into  Plymouth,  there  to  land 
mail  and  such  passengers  as  wanted  to  take  the  express  to 
London.  I  instructed  my  wife  to  go  to  Southampton 
while  I  went  ashore  with  my  guardians. 

From  the  London  Times,  June  10,  1873: 

"Among  the  passengers  who  landed  at  Plymouth  yester- 
day morning  from  the  royal  mail  steamer  Moselle  was  Bid- 
well,  otherwise  F.  A.  Warren,  in  charge  of  Detective  Ser- 
geant Michael  Hayden  and  William  Green,  accompanied 
by  Capt.  John  Curtin  and  Walter  Perrv  of  Mr.  Pinker- 
ton's  staff.  They  were  joined  by  Inspector  Wallace  and  De- 
tective Sergeant  William  Moss  of  the  city  police,  who  had 
come  down  from  London  the  previous  night  to  meet  the 
steamer. 

"It  being  known  that  Bidwell  was  expected  from  Havana 
in  the  Moselle,  an  enormous  crowd  assembled  in  ]\Tilbay 
pier  to  await  the  return  of  the  steam  tender  with  the  mail, 
in  order  to  get  a^  sight  of  the  prisoner,  and  so  great  was  the 
crowd  that  it  was  with  some  difficulty  that  Bidwell  and  his 
escort  managed  to  reach  cabs,  and  were  driven  to  the  Duke  of 
Cornwall  Hotel  adjoining  the  railway  station.     They  left  by 


J'^'uij.J"''' 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  379 

the   12.45  train  for  London.     A  crowd  of  20,000  persons 
were  present  to  see  them  off,  and  cheered  Bidwell  heartily. 
"Bidwell  will  be  taken  before  the  Lord  Mayor  in  the  jus- 
tice room  at  the  Mansion  House  this  morning." 

Accompanied  by  my  escort  of  six,  I  arrived  in  London 
one  bright  Spring  morning,  just  as  the  mighty  masses  of  that 
great  Babylon  were  thronging  in  their  thousands  toward 
Epsom  Downs,  where  on  that  day  the  Derby,  that  pivotal 
event  in  the  English  year,  was  to  be  run.  All  London  was 
astir,  and  had  put  on  holiday  attire,  while  I,  now  a  poor  weed 
drifting  to  rot  on  Lethe's  wharf,  was  on  my  way  to  Newgate. 

Newgate!  Then  it  had  come  to  this!  The  Primrose 
Way  wherein  I  had  walked  and  lived  delicately  at  the  ex- 
pense of  honor,  ended  here! 

"Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that  shall  he  also  reap,"  was 
written  by  one  Paul.  The  wisdom  of  many  was  here  and 
condensed  in  the  wit  of  one,  and  one  with  the  shrewdest  in- 
sight into  things  and  a  practical  knowledge  of  human  his- 
tory. 

I  was  a  prisoner  in  Newgate.  Newgate !  The  very  name 
casts  a  chill;  so,  too,  does  a  sight  of  that  granite  fortress 
rising  there  in  the  heart  of  mighty  London.  Amid  all  the 
throbbing  life  of  that  great  Babylon  it  stands — chill  and 
grim — and  has  stood  a  prison  fortress  for  500  years. 
Through  all  those  linked  centuries  how  many  thousands  of 
the  miserable  and  heartbroken  of  every  generation  have  been 
garnered  within  its  cold  embrace!  What  sights  and 
sounds  those  old  walls  have  seen  and  heard!  As  I  paced  its 
gloomy  corridors  that  first  night,  pictures  of  its  past  rose 
before  me  so  grim  and  terrible  that  I  turned  shuddering 
from  them,  onlv  to  remember  that  I,  too,  had  joined  the  long 
unending  procession  ever  flowing  through  its  gates,  which 
had  heaped  its  walls  to  the  top  with  one  inky  sea  of  misery. 
In  the  cruel  days  of  old  many  a  savage  sentence  had  fallen 
from  the  lips  of  merciless  judges,  but  none  more  terrible 
2^ 


380  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

than  the  one  which  was  to  fall  on  us  from  the  lips  of  their 
ferocious  imitator,  Justice  Archibald. 

I  found  my  three  friends  already  prisoners  there,  and  a 
sad  party  we  were.  When  we  said  good-bye  that  night  on 
the  wharf  at  Calais,  where  we  sat  star-gazing  and  philoso- 
phizing, we  little  anticipated  this  reunion. 

What  a  rude  surprise  it  was  to  find  how  things  were  con- 
ducted in  this  same  Newgate.  I  took  it  for  granted — since 
the  law  regarded  us  as  innocent  until  we  were  tried  and 
convicted — that  we  could  have  any  reasonable  favor  granted 
us  there  which  was  consistent  with  our  safe  keeping.  But 
no.  The  system  of  the  convict  prison  was  enforced  here, 
and  with  the  same  iron  rigor.  Strict  silence  was  the  rule 
along  with  the  absolute  exclusion  of  newspapers  and  all  news 
of  the  outside  world.  The  rules  forbid  any  delicacy  or 
books  being  furnished  by  one's  friends  from  the  outside. 
This  iron  system  is  as  cruel  as  unphilosophical,  for,  pending 
trial,  the  inmates  are  more  or  less  fiving  in  a  perfect  agony 
of  mind,  which  drives  many  into  insanity  or  to  the  verge  of 
insanity,  as  it  did  me.  How  can  one,  then,  when  the  past 
is  remorse — and  the  present  and  future  despair — find 
oblivion  or  raze  out  the  written  troubles  of  the  brain  save  in 
absorption  in  books. 

When  Claudo  is  doomed  to  die  and  go  "he  knew  not 
where,"  peering  into  the  abyss,  the  fear  strikes  him  that  in 
the  unknown  he  may  be  "prisoned  in  the  viewless  winds" 
and  blown  with  restless  violence  round  about  this  pendant 
world."  A  terrible  figure!  It  filled  at  this  time  some  corner 
of  my  brain  and  would  not  out.  It  went  with  me  up  and 
down  in  all  my  walks  in  Newgate. 

If  I  had  the  pen  of  Victor  Hugo,  what  a  picture  I  would 
draw  of  a  mind  consciously  going  down  into  the  fearful 
abyss  of  insanity,  making  mighty  struggles  against  it,  yet 
looking  on  the  cold  walls  shutting  one  in  and  weighing 
down  the  spirit,  feeling  that  the  struggle  is  ineffectual,  the 


PKINCIPAL    WAKDEHS,    WOKING    FBISON.       ^^  g'    ;^etherell 


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ASSISTANT    WARDERS,    DARTMOOK   PHISON. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  881 

fight  all  in  vain,  for  the  dead,  blank  walls  are  staring  coldly 
on  you,  without  giving  one  reflex  message,  bearing  on  their 
gray  surface  no  thought,  no  response  of  mind.  For  they 
have  been  looked  over  with  anxious  care  to  discover  if  any 
other  mind  had  recorded  there  some  thought  which  would 
awake  thought  in  one's  own,  and  help  to  shake  off  the  fearful 
burden  pressing  one  to  earth.  As  a  fact,  a  man  so  situated 
does — aye,  must — make  an  effort  to  leave  some  visible  im- 
press of  his  mind  as  a  message  to  his  kind.  It  is  a  natural 
law,  and  the  instinct  is  part  of  one's  being.  It  is  a  passion 
of  the  mind — a  longisg  to  be  united  to  the  spiritual  mass 
of  minds  from  which  the  isolated  soul  is  suflfering  an  un- 
natural divorce  of  hideous  material  walls. 
,  It  is  this  law  which  makes  the  savage  place  his  totem  on 
the  rocks,  and  it  is,  thanks  to  the  same  instinct,  that  this  very 
day  our  savants  are  finding  beneath  the  foundations  of  the 
temples  and  palaces  which  once  decked  the  Phoenician  plain 
the  baked  tablets  which  tell  us  the  family  histories,  no  less 
than  the  story  of  the  empires  of  those  days.  When  the  im- 
press was  made  on  the  soft  clay  to  be  fire-hardened,  each 
writer  felt  or  hoped  in  the  long  ages  in  the  tar-off  unknown, 

"When  time  is  old  and  hath  forgot  itself, 
When  water  drops  have  worn  the  streets  of  Troy 
And  blind  oblivion  swallowed  cities  up, 
And  mighty  States,  characterless,  are  grated 
To  dusty  nothing" 

then  some  thought,  some  message  from  their  minds,  there 
impressed  on  the  senseless  clay,  would  be  communicated 
to  some  other  mind,  and  wake  a  response  there. 

Many  a  time,  with  a  brain  reeling  in  agony,  did  I  turn  and 
stare  blankly  at  those  walls,  and,  in  a  sort  of  dumb  stupor, 
search  them  over  in  hope  to  find  some  word,  some  mes- 
sage impressed  there,  some  scratch  of  pen  or  finger  nail.  It 
might  be  a  message  of  miser}%  some  outcry  from  a  wounded 
spirit,  some  expression  of  despair. 


382 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


Had  there  been  one  such' — had  there  been!  Every  one  of 
my  predecessors  had  left  a  message  on  that  smooth-painted 
wall,  but  the  red-tape  official  rogues — the  stultified  imaees 
sans  reason,  sans  all  imagination — had,  after  the  departure 
of  each  one,  carefully  painted  over  all  such  legacies., 

The  hideous  cruelty  of  it  all!  My  blood  boils  even  now, 
when  I  think  of  it.  Even  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth  the  keep- 
ers of  the  Tower  pf  London  had  enough  human  feeling  to 
leave  untouched  the  inscriptions  made  by  Raleigh  and 
others,  and  there  they  are  to-day,  and  to-day  wake  a  response 
in  the  heart  of  every  visitor  that  looks  on  them. 


A    GANG    IN    BLOUSES   MARCHING    OUT. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

RUNNING  THE  GAUNTLET. 

My  life  at  Newgate  was  an  ordeal  such  as  I  hope  no 
reader  of  this  will  ever  undergo.  Day  by  day  I  saw  the 
world  slipping  from  under  my  feet,  and  the  net  drawing  its 
deadly  folds  closer  around  me.  Soon  've  all  were  forced 
to  realize  there  was  no  escape  for  any  of  us. 

Of  course,  we  were  all  guilty  and  deserved  punishment — 
I  need  not  say  we  did  not  think  so  then — but  the  evidence 
was  most  weak,  and  had  our  trial  taken  place  in  America 
under  the  too  liberal  construction  of  our  laws,  imdoubtedly 
we  all  would  have  escaped.  But  in  England  there  is  no 
court  of  criminal  appeal,  as  with  us,  and  when  once  the  jury 
gives  a  verdict,  that  ends  the  matter.  The  result  is  that  if 
judges  are  prejudiced,  or  want  a  man  convicted,  as  in  our 
case,  he  never  escapes.  The  jury  is  always  selected  from  the 
shopkeeping  class,  and  they  are  horribly  subservient  to  the 
aristocratic  classes.  They  don't  care  for  evidence — they 
simply  watch  the  judge.  If  he  smiles,  the  prisoner  is  inno- 
cent.    If  he  frowns,  then,  of  course,  guilty. 

With  us  when  a  man  is  charged  with  and  oflfense 
against  the  laws  he  engages  a  lawyer — one  is  sufficient  and 
quite  costly  enough.  In  England  they  are  divided  into  three 
classes,  viz.:  solicitors,  barristers  and  Queen's  Counsels. 

The  solicitor  takes  the  case  and  transacts  all  the  business 
connected  with  it.  A  barrister  is  the  lawyer  who  is  em- 
ployed by  the  solicitor  to  conduct  the  case  in  court  and 
make  the  pleadings.    He  never  comes  in  contact  with  the 

(383) 


384  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

clientj  but  takes  the  brief  and  all  instructions  from  the  so- 
licitor. The  Queen's  Counsel  is  a  lawyer  of  a  higher  rank, 
and  whenever  his  serene  lordship  takes  a  brief  he  must,  to 
keep  up  his  dignity,  "be  supported"  by  a  barrister.  So  my 
reader  will  perhaps  understand  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  prov- 
erb, "The  lawyers  own  England."  As  no  solicitor  can  plead 
in  court,  so  no  Queen's  Counsel  will  come  in  direct  contact 
with  a  client,  and  must  be  "supported"  by  a  barrister.  Ergo, 
any  unfortunate  having  a  case  in  court  must  fee  two,  if  not 
three  legal  sharks  to  represent  him,  if  represented  at  all. 

We  employed  as  solicitor  a  Mr.  David  Howell  of  105 
ChJeapside,  and  a  thoroughgoing,  unprincipled  rascal  he 
proved  to  be.  He  was  a  small,  spare,  undersized  man,  with 
little  beady  eyes,,  light  complexion,  red  hair,  and  stubby 
beard,  and  when  he  spoke  it  was  with  a  thin  reedy  voice. 
From  first  to  last  he  managed  our  case  in  exactly  the  way 
the  prosecution  would  have  desired.  He  bled  us  freely,  and 
altogether  we  paid  him  nearly  $10,000,  and  our  defense  by 
our  eight  lawyers — four  Queen's  Counsels  and  four  barristers 
— ^was  about  the  lamest  and  most  idiotic  possible. 

We  early  came  to  the  unanimous  conclusion  that  in  our 
country  Howell  would  have  had  to  face  a  jury  for  robbing 
us,  and  that  but  one  of  our  eight  lawyers  had  ability  enough 
to  appear  in  a  police  court  here  to  conduct  a  hearing  before 
an  ordinary  magistrate. 

I  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  the  details  of  our  prelim- 
inary hearings  before  the  Lord  Mayor  at  the  Mansion 
House,  or  of  the  trial.  Both  the  hearings  and  trial  were 
sensational  in  the  highest  degree,  and  attracted  universal 
attention  all  over  the  English-speakmg  world.  Full-page 
pictures  of  the  trial  appeared  in  all  the  illustrated  journals 
of  Europe  and  America,  and  our  portraits  were  on  sale 
everywhere. 

After  many  hearings  before  Sir  Sidney  Waterlaw,  we 
were  finally  committed  for  trial. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  385 

Editorial  from  the  London  Times  of  Aug.  13,  1873: 
THE  BANK  FORGERIES. 

"Monday  next  has  been  fixed  for  the  trial,  and  the  de- 
positions taken  before  the  Lord  Mayor  at  the  Justice  Room 
of  the  Mansion  House  by  Mr.  Oke,  the  chief  clerk,  have 
been  printed  for  the  convenience  of  the  presiding  judge  and 
of  the  counsel  on  both  sides.  They  extend  over  2^  folio 
pages,  including  the  oral  and  documentary  evidence^  and 
make  of  themselves  a  thick  volume^  together  with  an  elabo- 
rate index  for  ready  reference.  Within  living  memory  there 
has  been  no  such  case  for  length  and  importance  heard  be- 
fore anv  Lord  Mayor  of  London  in  its  preliminary  stage, 
nor  one  which  excited  a  greater  amount  of  public  interest 
from  first  to  last.  The  Overend  Gurney  prosecution  is  the 
only  one  in  late  years  which  at  all  approaches  it  in  those  re- 
spects, but  in  that  the  printed  depositions  only  extended  over 
164  folio  pages,  or  much  less  than  those  in  the  Bank  case, 
in  which  as  many  as  108  witnesses  gave  evidence  before  the 
Lord  Mayor,  and  the  preliminary  examinations — ^twenty- 
three  in  number  from  first  to  last — lasted  from  the  first  of 
March  until  the  2d  of  July,  exclusive  of  the  time  spent  in 
remands." 

From  the  London  Times,  Aug.  10,  1873: 

"On  the  opening  of  the  August  sessions  of  the  Old  Bailey 
Central  Criminal  Court.  The  court  and  streets  were  much 
crowded  from  the  beginning,  and  continued  so  throughout 
the  day.  Alderman  Sir  Robert  Carden,  representing  the 
Lord  Mayor ;  Mr.  Alderman  Finis,  Mr.  Alderman  Besley,  Mr. 
Alderman  Lawrence,  M.  P.,  Mr.  Alderman  Whetham  and 
Mr.  Alderman  Ellis,  as  commissioners  of  the  Court,  occupied 
seats  upon  the  bench,  as  did  also  Alderman  SheriflF  White. 

"Sheriff  Sir  Frederick  Perkins,  Mr.  Under-Sheriff  Hewitt 
and  Mr.  Under-Sheriff  Crosley,  Mr.  R.  B.  Green,  Mr.  R.  W. 
Crawford,  M.  P.,  Governor  of  the  Bank,  Mr.  Lyall,  Deputy 
Governor,  and  Mr.  Alfred  de  Rothschild  were  present.  The 
members  of  the  bar  mustered  in  force,  and  the  reserved 
seats  were  chiefly  occupied  by  ladies.  Mr.  Hardinge  Gifford, 
Q.  C.  (now  Lord  Chancellor  of  the  British  Empire),  and 
Mr.  Watkin  Williams,  Q.  C  (instructed  by  Messrs.  Fresh- 


386  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

field,  the  solicitors  of  the  bank),  appeared  as  counsel  for  the 
prosecution." 

For  eight  mortal  days  the  final  trial  dragged  on,  and  there 
we  were  pilloried  in  that  horrible  dock — a  spectacle  for  the 
staring  throngs  that  flocked  to  see  the  young  Americans 
who  had  found  a  pregnable  spot  in  the  impregnable  Bank 
of  England. 

The  misery  of  those  eight  days !  No  language  can  describe 
it,  nor  would  I  undergo  it  again  for  the  wealth  of  the  world. 

The  court  was  filled  with  fashionables,  ladies  as  well,  who 
flocked  to  stare  at  misery,  while  the  corridors  of  the  Old 
Bailey  and  the  street  itself  were  packed  with  thousands  eager 
to  catch  a  glimpse  of  us.  The  Judge,  in  si  arlet,  sat  in  solemn 
state,  with  members  of  the  nobility  or  gouty  Aldermen  in 
gold  chains  and  robes  on  the  bench  beside  him.  The  body 
of  the  court  was  filled  with  bewigged  lawyers — a  tippling 
lot  of  sharks  and  rogues,  always  after  lunch  half  tipsy  with 
the  punch  or  dry  sherry  which  English  lawyers  drink,  jesting 
and  cracking  jokes,  unmindful  of  the  fate  of  their  clients. 
Capt.  Curtin  and  a  score  of  detectives  were  present. 

No  fewer  than  213  witnesses  were  called  by  the  prosecu- 
tion. Of  these  about  fifty  were!  from  America,  and  by  them 
they  traced  our  lives  for  many  years  before.  As  the  forged 
bills  were  all  sent  by  mail  it  was  necessary  to  convict  us  by 
circumstantial  evidence.  The  evidence  was  all  very  weak, 
save  only  in  that  remarkable  matter  of  the  blotting  paper. 
Our  conviction  was  a  foregone  conclusion. 

The  jury  retired  to  consider  their  verdict  shortly  after  7 
o'clock,  and  on  returning  into  court  after  the  lapse  of  about 
a  quarter  of  an  hour  they  gave  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  against 
all  of  the  four  prisoners. 


CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

"NOTHING  LEFT  US  BUT  A  GRAVE,  THAT  SMAX.L.  MODEL. 
OF  THE  BARREN  EARTH,"  WITH  DISHONOR 

FOR  AN  EPITAPH. 

Judge  Archibald  proceeded  to  pass  sentence.  He  began 
with  the  interesting  and  truthful  remark:  "I  have  anxiously 
considered  whether  anything  less  than  the  maximum  penalty 
of  the  law  will  be  adequate  to  meet  the  requirements)  of  this 
case,  and  I  think  not."  We  had  inform.ation  that  a  few 
days  previously  a  meeting  of  judges  had  been  held  and  that 
he  had  been  advised  to  pass  a  life  sentence.  What  he  really 
meant  to  say  was  that  he  had  anxiously  considered  whether 
anything  less  would  be  adequate  to  satisfy  the  Bank  of 
England.  He  went  on  to  say  that  we  had  not  only  inflicted 
great  loss  on  the  bank,  but  had  also  seriously  discredited 
that  great  institution  in  the  eyes  of  the  public.  He  continued : 
"It  is  difficult  to  see  the  motives  for  this  crime;  it  was  not 
want,  for  you  were  in  possession  of  a  large  sum  of  money. 
You  are  men  of  education,  some  of  you  speak  the  Conti- 
nental languages,  and  you  have  traveled  considerably.  I 
see  no  reason  to  make  any  distinction  between  you,  and  let 
it  be  understood  from  the  sentence  which  I  am  about  to  pass 
upon  you  that  men  of  education" — and  he  might  have  added, 
what  he  undoubtedly  thought,  Americans — "who  commit 
crimes  which  none  but  men  of  education  can  commit  must 
expect  a  terrible  retribution,  and  that  sentence  is  penal 
servitude  for  life,  and  I  further  order  that  each  one  of  you 

(38T) 


388  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

pay  one-fourth  of  the  costs  of  prosecution — £4.9,000,  oi* 
$245,000  in  all." 

And,  after  all,  what  aroused  so  greatly  his  indignation? 
It  was  simply  this — because  we  were  youngsters  and  Ameri- 
cans, and  had  successfulh*  assaulted  the  fondly  imagined 
impregnable  Bank  of  England,  and,  worse  still,  had  held 
up  to  the  laughter  of  the  whole  world  its  red-tape  idiotic 
management,  for  had  the  bank  asked  so  common  a  thing 
as  a  reference  the  fraud  would  have  been  made  impossible. 

Let  my  reader  contrast  this  modern.  Jeffreys,  his  savage 
tirade,  and,  for  an  offense  against  property,  this  most  brutal 
sentence,  with  the  treatment  of  the  Warwickshire  bank 
wreckers.  Greenaway,  the  manager  of  this  bank,  and  three) 
of  the  directors  by  false'  balance  sheets  and  perjured  reports 
for  years  had  looted  the  bank,  finally  robbing  the  depositors 
of  £1,000,000,  several  of  whom  committed  suicide  and  thou- 
sands more  of  whom  were  ruined. 

They  were  tried,  convicted,  and  in  being  sentenced  were 
told  that,  being!  men  of  high  social  position,  the  disgrace  in 
itself  was  a  severe  punishment;  therefore,  he  should  take 
that  fact  into  consideration,  and  ended  by  sentencing  two  to 
eight  months',  one  to  twelve  and  one  to  fourteen  months' 
imprisonment. 

We  were  sentenced  late  at  night — nearly  10  o'clock — ^a 
smoky,  foggy  London  night.  The  court  was  packed,  the 
corridors  crowded,  and  when  the  jury  came  in  with  their 
verdict  the  suppressed  excitement  found  vent.  But  when 
the  vindictive  and  unheard-of  sentence  fell  from  the  lips  of 
this  villain  Judge  an  exclamation  of  horror  fell  from  that 
crowded  court 

We  turned  from  the  Judge  and  went  down  the  stairs  to 
the  entrance  to  the  underground  passage  leading  to  New- 
gate.   There  we  lialted  to  say  farewelll. 

To  say  farewell!  Yes.  The  Primrose  Way  had  come  to 
an  end,  but  we  were  comrades  and  friends  still,  and  in'  order 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  389 

that  in  the  gloom  of  the  slow-moving  days  and  the  blackness 
and  thick  horror  of  the  years  to  come  we  might  have  some 
thought  in  common,  we  then  and  there  promised — ^what 
could  we  poor,  broken  bankrupts  promise? 

Where  or  to  what  in  the  thick  horror  enshrouding  us 
could  we  turn?    We  had 

"Nothing  left  us  to  call  our  own  save  death. 
And  that  small  model  cHF  the  barren  earth 
Which  serves  as  paste  and  cover  to  our  boncs^* 

nothing  but  a  grave,  that 

"Small  model  of  the  barren  earth," 

with  dishonor  and  degradation  for  our  epitaph! 

But  there,  in  the  very  instant  of  our  overwhelming  defeat, 
standing  in  the  dark  mouth  of  the  stone  conduit  leading 
from  the  Old  Bailey  to  the  dungeons  of  Newgate,  by  virtue 
of  the  high  resolve  we  made,  we  conquered  Fate  at  her 
worst,  and  by  our  act  in  establishing  a  secret  bond  of  sym- 
pathy in  our  separation  dropped  the  bad,  disastrous  past, 
and  starting  on  new  things  planted  our  feet  on  the  bottom 
round  of  the  ladder  of  success,  feeling  that,  with  plenty  of 
faith  and  endurance,  Fortune,  frown  as  she  might  now,  must 
in  some  distant  day  turn  her  wheel  and  smile  again. 

And  what  was  this  act?  Why,  it  was  a  simple  one^  but 
bore  in  it  the  germ  of  great  things. 

As  we  halted  there  in  the  gloom  we  swore  never  to  give  in, 
however  they  might  starve  us,  even  grind  us  to  powder,  as 
we  felt  they  would  certainly  try  to  do.  We  knew  that  in 
their  anxiety  about  our  souls  they  would  be  sure  kindly  to 
furnish  each  with  a  Bible,  and  we  promised  to  read  one 
chapter  every  day  consecutively,  and,  while  reading  the  same 
chapter  at  the  same  hour,  think  of  the  others.  For  twenty 
years  we  kept  the  promise.  Then,  making  the  resolve  men- 
tioned in  the  beginning  of  this  book,  I  marched  back  to  my 
cell.    The  door  was  opened  and  closed  behind  me,  leaving- 


390  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

me  in  pitch  darkness — a  convict  in  my  dungeon.  Dressed 
as  I  was  I  lay  down  on  the  httle  bed  tliere,  and  through  all 
that  long  and  terrible  night,  with  a  million  dread  images 
rushing  through  my  brain,  I  lay  passive,  with  wide-open 
eyes,  staring  into  the  darkness,  conscious  that  sanity  and 
insanity  were  struggling  for  mastery  in  my  brain,  while  I, 
like  some  interested  spectator,  watched  the  struggle;  or, 
again,  I  was  struggling  in  the  air  with  some  powerful  but 
viewless  monster  form,  that  clutched  my  throat  with  iron 
fingers,  but  whose  bodv  was  impalpable  to  the  grasp  of  my 
hands.  A  mighty  space,  an  eternity  of  time  and  daylight 
came.  Then,  like  one  in  a  dream,  I  rose  mechanically,  and, 
finding  the  pin  I  had  secreted,  I  stood  on  the  little  wooden 
bench,  and,  impelled  by  some  spiritual  but  irresistible  force, 
I  scratched  on  the  wall  the  message  I  had  resolved  to  leave: 

"In  the  reproof  of  chance 
"Lies  the  true  proof  of  men." 

Then  I  thought  of  my  friends  and  my  promise,  and,  like  one 
in  a  dream,  I  took  the  ill-smelling  and  dirty  little  Bible  from 
the  shelf,  and,  turning  to  the  first  chapter,  read: 

"And  the  spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  waters.",  .  .  . 
"And  God  said  let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light." 

Then  the  book  fell  from  my  hand,  and  I  remembered  no 
more.    My  mind  had  gone  whirling  into  the  abyss. 

I  was  sentenced  on  Wednesday.  For  three  days,  from 
Thursday  to  Sunday,  my  mind  was  a  blank.  I  have  no 
recollection  of  my  removal  under  escort  from  Newgate  to 
Pentonville. 

On  Sunday,  the  fourth  day  of  my  sentence,  like  one  rousing 
from  a  trance,  I  awoke  to  find  myself  shaven  and  shorn, 
dressed  in  a  coarse  convict  uniform,  in  a  rough  cell  of  white- 
washed brick.  The  small  window  had  heavy  double  bars  set 
with  thick  fluted  glass,  which,  while  admitting  light,  foiled 
any  attempt  of  the  eye  to  discern  objects  without    In  the 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  391 

comer  there  was  a  rusty  iron  shelf.  A  board  let  into  the 
brickwork  served  for  bed,  bench  and  table.  A  zinc  jug  and 
basin  for  water,  with  a  wooden  plate,  spoon  and  salt  dish  (no 
knife  or  fork  for  twenty  years !)  completed  the  furnishings. 

As  I  was  looking  around  in  a  helpless  way  a  key  suddenly 
rattled  in  the  lock  and,  the  door  opening,  a  uniformed  warder 
stepped  in  and,  giving  me  a  searching  look,  said  in  a  rough 
voice:  "Come  on;  you'll  do  for  chapel;  you  have  put  on  the 
balmy  long  enough."  His  kindly  face  belied  his  rough 
tones,  and  I  followed  him  out  of  the  door  and  soon  found 
myself  in  the  prison  chapel.  None  was  present,  and  I  was 
ordered  to  sit  on  the  front  bench  at  the  far  end.  The  benches 
were  simply  common  flat  boards  ranged  in  rows.  Soon  the 
prisoners  came  in  singly,  marching  about  two  yards  apart, 
and  sat  on  the  benches  with  that  interval  between  them — • 
that  is,  in  the  division  of  the  chapel  where  I  sat,  it  being 
separated  from  the  rest  by  a  high  partition.  Soon  a  white- 
robed,  surpliced  clergyman  came  in,  and  the  service  began; 
but  I  had  no  eye  or  ear,  nor  any  comprehension  save  in  a 
dim  manner,  as  to  what  was  going  on.  My  brain  was  trying 
to  connect  the  past  and  the  present,  feeling  that  something 
terrible  had  befallen  me,  but  what  it  was  I  could  not  under- 
stand. When  the  services  were  over  I  returned  under  the 
escort  of  the  warder,  who,  when  I  arrived  at  my  cell,  ordered 
me  to  go  in  and  close  the  door,  which  I  did,  banging  it  be- 
hind me.  It  had  a  spring  lock,  and  when  I  heard  the  snap  of 
the  catch  and  looked  at  the  narrow,  barred  window,  with 
its  thick,  fluted  glass  admitting  only  a  dim  light,  I  remem- 
bered evervthing.  Like  a  flash  it  all  cam.e  to  me,  and  I 
realized  the  full  horror  of  my  position.  Sitting  down  on 
the  little  board  fastened  to  the  wall,  serving  as  bed, 
seat  and  table,  I  buried  my  face  in  my  hands 
and  began  to  ponder.  Regrets  came  in  floods,  with 
remorse  and  despair,  hand  in  hand,  when,  realizing  that  it 
was  madness  to  think,  I  sprang  up,  saying  to  myself  the 


392  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

hour  and  minute  had  come  for  me  to  decide — either  for 
madness  and  a  convict's  dishonored  grave,  or  to  keep  the 
promise  I  had  made  to  my  friends^ — never  to  give  in,  but  to 
Hve  and  conquer  fate. 

I  determined  then  and  there  to  Hve  in  the  future,  and 
never  to  dwell  on  the  horrible  present  or  past.  Then  I 
remembered  the  last  scene  in  Newgate  and  my  promise  to 
accompany  my  friends  step  by  step,  day  by  day,  in  our 
readings.  Finding  a  Bible  on  the  little  rusty  iron  shelf  in 
the  corner,  and  this  being  the  fourth  day  of  our  sentence,  I 
turned  to  the  fourth  chapter.  It  gives  the  story  of  Cain's 
crime  and  punishment,  and  I  read  the  graphic  narrative 
with  an  intensity  of  interest  difficult  to  describe.  When  I 
read,  "And  Cain  said  unto  the  Lord,  my  punishment  is 
greater  than  I  can  bear.  Behold,  thou  ha^t  driven  me  out 
this  day  from  the  face  of  the  earth,"  I  felt  that  the  cry  of 
Cain  in  all  its  intense  naturalness,  in  its  remorse  and  despair, 
was  my  own,  and  I  was  overcome.  Laying  the  book  down, 
I  walked  the  floor  for  an  hour  in  agony,  until  fantastic 
images  came  thronging  thick  and  fast  to  my  brain.  I  real- 
ized that  my  mind  wag  going  and  felt  I  must  do  something 
to  make  me  forget  my  misery. 

I  opened  the  Bible  at  random  and  my  eye  caught  the  word 
"misery."    I  looked  closely  ^t  the  verse  and  read: 

"Thou  shalt  forget  thy  misery,  and  remember  it  as  waters 
that  pass  away." 

I  threw  the  book  down,  crying  with  vehemence,  "Tliat's 
a  lie!  God  never  gives  something  for  nothing."  Soon  I 
opened  the  book  again  and  looked  at  the  context.  Tliose 
of  my  readers  who  care  to  do  so  can  do  the  same.  The 
verse  is  Job  xi.,  i6.  The  context  begins  at  verse  13.  From 
that  hour  I  never  despaired  again. 

The  same  day  I  bep^an  committing  the  Book  of  Job  to 
memory,  and  worked  for  dear  life  and  reason.  I  became 
interested,  and  my  interest  in  that  wondrous  poem  deepened 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  3»3 

until  the  study  became  a  passion.  Thus  I  turned  the  whole 
current  of  my  thoughts  into  a  new  cnannel.  Reason  came 
back,  and  with  it  resolution  and  courage  and  strength. 

I  was  in  Pentonville  Prison,  in  the  suburbs  of  London. 
All  men  convicted  in  England  are  sent  to  this  prison  to 
undergo  one  year's  solitary  confinement.  At  the  completion 
of  the  year  they  are  drafted  away  to  the  public  works'  prisons, 
where,  working  in  gangs,  they  complete  their  sentences. 

Of  my  experience  in  Pentonville  during  my  year  of  soli- 
tude it  suffices  to  say  that,  passing  through  a  great  deal  of 
mental  conflict,  I  found  I  had  grown  stronger  and  was  eager 
for  transfer  to  the  other  prison,  where  I  could  for  a  few  hours 
each  day  at  least  look  on  the  sky  and  the  faces  of  my  fellow 
men. 

At  last  the  day  of  transfer  came,  and,  escorted  by  two 
uniformed  and  armed  warders,  I  was  taken  to  the  famous 
Chatham  Prison,  twenty-seven  miles  from  London  on  the 
river  Medway.     .     .     . 

"You  were  sent  here  to  work,  and  you  will  have  to  do  it 
or  I  will  make  you  ."jufifer  for  it,"  was  the  friendly  greeting 
that  fell  on  my  ears  as  I  stood  before  a  pompous  little  fellow 
(an  ex-major  from  the  army)  at  Chatham  Prison  one  lovely 
morning  in  1874. 

I  had  arrived  there  under  escort  but  an  hour  before,  strong 
in  the  resolve  to  obey  the  regulations  if  I  could,  and  never 
to  give  in  if  I  had  a  fair  chance ;  also  with  a  desperate  resolve 
never  to  submit  to  persecution,  come  what  might,  and  these 
resolutions  saved  me — but  only  by  a  steady  and  dogged 
adherence  to  them  on  many  occasions,  through  many  years 
and  amid  surroundings  that  might  well  make  me — ^as  it  did 
and  does  many  good  men — desperate  and  utterly  reckless. 

After  a  few  more  remarks  of  a  very  personal  and  pungent 
nature  the  little  fellow  marched  oflf  with  a  delicious  swagger 
and  an  heroical  air.  I  at  once  turned  to  the;  warder  and 
asked,  "Who  is  that  little  fellow?"     "The  Governor!"  he 


3d4  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

gasped  out  "If  he  had  only  heard  you!"  and  then  followed 
a  pantomime  that  implied  something  very  dreadful.  Then  1 
marched  oflf  to  the  doctor,  and  next  to  the  chaplain,  who 
(knowing  who  I  was)  asked  me  if  I  could  read  and  write,  to 
which  I  meekly  replied,  "Yes,  sir;"  but  apparently  being 
doubtful  upon  the  point  he  gave  me  a  book.  Opening  it 
and  pretending  to  read,  I  said  in  a  solemn  tone  of  voice: 
"When  time  and  place  adhere  write  me  down  an  ass."  He 
took  the  book  from  me,  looked  at  the  open  page,  gazed 
solemnly  in  my  face  with  a  funny  wagging  of  his  head,  as 
much  as  to  say,  "you  will  com.e  to  no  good,"  and  followed 
the  little  major. 

Then  my  cicerone  took  me  into  the  main  building,  filled 
up  to  the  brim  with  what  seemed  to  be  little  brick  and  stone 
boxes,  and,  halting  in  front  of  one,  said,  "This  is  your  cell." 
Looking  around  to  see  if  it  was  safe  to  talk,  he  began  to 
question  me  rapidly  about  my  case,  and  getting  no  satis- 
faction he  wound  up  the  questioning  with  the  remark :  "Well, 
you  tried  to  take  all  our  money  over  to  America."  Tlien, 
becoming  confidential,  he  told  me  what  wicked  fellows  the 
other  prisoners  were,  chiefly  because  they  went  to  the  Gov- 
ernor and  reported  the  officers,  charging  them  with  mal- 
treatment and  bullying  particularly,  and  knocking  them 
about  generally.  Of  course,  the  warders  never  did  such 
things,  but  were  really  of  a  ver}^  lamblike  and  gentle  nature. 
In  order  to  back  up  their  lies  the  prisoners  would  knock 
their  own  heads  against  the  walls  and  then  swear  by  everv""- 
thing  good  that  some  one  of  the  warders  had  done  it  I 
said,  perhaps  he  had. 

Well,  he  said,  perhaps  an  officer  might  give  a  man  "a  little 
clip,"  but  never  so  as  to  hurt  him,  and  "only  in  fun,  you 
know."  I  felt  at  the  time  that  I  would  never  learn  to  appre- 
ciate Chatham  "fun,"  but  on  the  very  next'  day  I  was  con- 
vinced of  it  when  a  man  named  Farrier  pulled  out  from  his 
.waistband  a  piece  of  rag,  and,  unrolling  it,  produced  two  of 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  897 

his  front  teeth  with  the  information  that  a  certain  warder 
had  struck  him  with  his  fist  in  the  mouth  and  knocked 
them  out. 

But  to  return  to  my  narrative.  After  many  "wise  saws 
and  modem  instances,"  he  locked  me  up  in  the  litttle  brick 
and  stone  box  and  departed,  having  first  informed  me  that 
I  "would  go  out  to  labor  in  the  morning.'' 

I  looked  about  my  little  box  with  a  mixture  of  curiosity 
and  consternation,  for  the  thought  smote  me  with  blinding 
force  that  for  long  years  that  little  box — eight  feet  six  inches 
in  length,  seven  feet  in  height  and  five  feet  in  width,  with 
its  floor  and  roof  of  stone — would  be  my  only  home — would 
be!  must  be!  and  no  power  could  avert  my  fate. 

On  the  small  iron  shelf  I  found  a  tin  dish  used  by  some 
previous  occupant,  and  smeared  inside  and  out  with  gruel. 
There  being  no  water  in  my  jug,  when  the  men  came  in  for 
dinner,  I,  in  my  innocence,  asked  one  of  the  officers  for  some 
water  to.  wash  the  dish.  He  looked  at  me  with  great  con- 
tempt and  said:  "You  are  a  precious  flat;  lick  it  off,  man. 
Before  long  you  won't  waste  gruel  by  washing  your  tin  dish. 
You  won't  be  here  many  days  and  want  to  use  water  to  clean 
your  pint." 

After  dinner  I  saw  the  men  marched  out  to  labor,  and  was 
amazed  to  see  their  famished,  wolfish  looks — ^thin,  gaunt 
and  almost  disguised  out  of  all  human  resemblance  by  their 
ill-fitting,  mud-covered  garments  and  mud-splashed  faces 
and  hands.  I  myself  was  kept  in,  but  the  weary,  almost 
ghastly  spectre  march  I  had  witnessed  constantly  haunted 
me,  and  I  said,  "Will  I  ever  resemble  them?"  And  youthful 
spirit  and  pride  rusher^  to  the  front  and  cried,  "Never!" 

Night  and  supper  (eight  ounces  of  brown  bread)  came  at 
length,  and  I  rose  up  from  my  meal  cheerful  and  resolute  to 
meet  the  worst,  be  it  what  it  might  short  of  deliberate  perse- 
cution, with  a  stout  heart  and  faith  that  at  last  all  would 
be  well. 

23 


888  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

In  the  morning  I  arose,  had  my  breakfast  (nine  ounces  of 
brown  bread  and  one  pint  of  gruel),  and  was  eager  to  learn 
what  this  "labor"  meant.  I  was  prepared  for  much,  but  not 
for  the  grim  reality.  I  had  been  ordered  to  join  eighty-two 
party— a  brickmaking  party,  but  working  in  the  "mud  dis- 
tricts." So  we,  along  with  1,200  others,  marched  out  to  our 
work,  and  as  soon  as  we  were  outside  of  the  prison  grounds 
I  saw  a  sight  that,  while  it  explained  the  mud-splashed  ap- 
pearance of  my  spectral  array,  was  enough  to  daunt  any 
man  doomed  to  join  in  the  game.  Mud,  mud  everywhere, 
with  groups  of  weary  men  with  shovel,  or  shovel  and  barrow, 
working  in  it.  A  sort  of  road  had  been  made  over  the  mud 
with  ashes  and  cinders,  and  our  party  of  twenty-two  men, 
with  five  other  parties,  moved  steadily  on  for  about  a  mile 
until  we  carne  to  the  clay  banks  or  pits.  Fortunately  we  had 
a  very  good  officer  by  the  name  of  James.  He  wanted  the 
work  done,  and  used  his  tongue  pretty  freely;  still  he  was  a 
man  who  would  speak  the  truth,  and  treated  his  men  as 
well  as  he  dared  to  do  under  the  brutal  regime  ruling  in 
Chatham.  He  speedily  told  me  off  to  a  barrow  and  spade, 
and  I  was  fully  enlisted  as  barrow-and-spade  man  to  Her 
Majesty. 

A  steam  mill,  or  "pug,"  like  a  monster  coflfee  mill,  was 
used  for  mixing  the  clay  and  sand  and  delivering  it  in 
form  of  bricks  below,  where  another  party  received  them 
and  laid  them  out  to  dry,  preparatory  to  burning.  Our  duty 
was  "to  keep  the  pug  going" — keep  it  full  of  clay  to  the  top. 
The  clay  was  in  a  high  bank ;  we  dug  into  it  from  the  bottom 
with  our  spades,  and  filled  it  as  fast  as  possible  into  our 
barrows.  In  front  of  each  man  was  a  "run,"  formed  by  a 
line  of  planks  only  eight  inches  in  width,  and  all  converging 
toward  and  meeting  near  the  "pug."  The  distance  we  were 
wheeling  was  from  thirty  to  forty  yards,  and  the  incline  was 
really  very  steep ;  but  that  in  itself  would  not  have  been  so 
bad,  but  the  labor  of  digging  out  the  clay  was  severe,  and 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  399 

that  everlasting  "png"  was  as  hungry  as  if  it  were  in  the 
habit  of  taking  "Plantation  Bitters"  to  give  it  an  appetite. 

One  had  no  period  of  rest  between  the  filling  of  one's 
barrow  and  the  start  up  the  run.  In  an  hour's  time  my  poor 
hands  were  covered  with  blood  blisters,  and  my  left  knee 
was  a  lame  duck  indeed,  made  so  by  the  slight  wrench  given 
it  each  time  I  struck  in  my  spade  with  my  left  foot;  but  I 
made  no  complaint.  About  lo  o'clock  the  man  next  to  me 
with  an  oath  threw  down  his  spade  and  vowed  he  would  do 
no  more  work.  Putting  on  his  vest  and  packet,  he  walked 
up  to  the  warder,  and  quite  as  a  matter  of  course  turned 
his  back  to  him  and  put  both  hands  behind  him.  The  warder 
produced  a  pair  of  handcuffs,  and  without  any  comment 
handcufifed  his  hands  in  that  position,  and  then  told  him  to 
stand  with  his  back  to  the  work.  No  one  took  the  slightest 
notice  and  the  toil  did  not  slacken  for  an  instant,  but  one 
man  was  out  of  the  game,  and  we  had  to  make  his  side  good. 

Noon  came  at  last.  We  dropped  our  spades,  hastily 
slipped  on  our  jackets  and  at  once  set  ofif  at  a  quick  march 
for  the  prison.  I  naturally  looked  at  the  various  gangs 
piloting  their  way  through  the  mud  and  all  steering  in  a 
straight  line  for  the  Appian  way  whereon  we  were,  for,  as 
all  roads  lead  to  Rome,  so  all  the  sticky  ways  "on  the  works" 
led  to  the  prison.  Our  laconic  friend  was  trudging  on 
behind  the  party,  and  to  my  surprise  I  noticed  that  several 
of  the  other  parties  had  un  enfant  perdu,  hands  behind  his 
back,  marching  in  the  rear,  and  as  soon  as  we  reached  the 
prison  each  poor  sheep  in  the  rear  fell  out  quite  as  a  matter 
of  course.  When  all  the  men  were  in,  a  warder  came  up 
and  gave  the  order,  "Right  turn!  Forward!"  and  oflf  the 
poor  fellows  marched  to  the  punishment  cells  for  three  days* 
bread  and  water  each,  and  no  bed,  unless  one  designates 
an  oak  plank  as  such.  It  was  all  very  sad;  'twas  pitiful  to 
see  the  matter-of-fact  way  in  which  every  one  concerned  took 
it  all. 


400 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


So  my  first  day  in  the  mud  and  clay  came  to  an  end,  and 
I  found  myself  once  more  in  my  little  box  with  a  night 
before  me  for  rest  and  thought.  Althougn  I  had  suffered,  yet 
there  were  grounds  for  gratitude  and  hope,  and  I  felt  that 
I  might  regard  the  future  steadily  and  without  despair. 


VISITOR   TRYING   ON   THE    HANGMAN'S   IR 
ON  PINIONING  BELT  AT  NEWGATE. 


CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

HENCEFORH      A      LIGHT     WAS     TO     STREAM     THROUGH 
THE    FLUTED  GLASS  OF  MY  WINDOW. 

The  first  day  was  over,  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  some- 
thing more  must  come.  That  what  I  had  gone  through  could 
mean  the  Hfe  of  a  day  must  surely  be  impossible.  Was  there 
nothing  before  me  but  isolation  so  complete  that  no  whisper 
from  the  outside  world  could  reach  me,  that  world  which 
compared  with  the  death  into  which  I  was  being  absorbed 
seemed  the  only  world  of  the  living? 

Had  I  actually  nothing  to  look  for  but  the  most  repulsive 
•  work  under  the  most  repulsive  conditions?     I  said  there 
must  be  surely  some  change,  that  wheeling  mud  forever  was 
not  the  doom  of  any  man  and  could  certainly  not  be  mine. 

I  looked  about  my  little  cell,  the  stillness  of  the  grave 
without,  the  utter  solitude  within.  The  ration  which  formed 
my  supper  was  on  the  table,  eight  ounces  of  black  bread. 
Try  as  I  might  to  cheat  myself  with  hope,  I  knew  that  hope 
for  many  a  long  year  there  was  none,  that  so  far  as  the  most 
vindictive  sentence  could  compass  it,  for  many  a  long  year 
the  earth  with  her  bars  was  about  me. 

No  "De  Profundis"  cry  could  ever  ascend  from  the  abyss 
to  the  bottom  of  which  I  had  fallen.  What  was  outside  of 
me  had  nothing  but  the  hideous. 

But  although  the  visible  "seemed  corruption,  and  the 
things  which  my  soul,  and  body,  too,  had  refused  to  touch 
were  become  my  sorrowful  meat,  yet  I  could  not  but  feel 

(401) 


402  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

that  the  invisible,  that  part  of  me  which  no  bars  could  hold 
and  no  man  deprive  me  of,  wasi  still  my  own,  and  that  in  it 
I  might  and  would  find  sufificient  to  support  what  I  began 
to  feel  was,  after  all,  the  only  man. 

To  face  the  actualities  of  the  position  was  the  first  thing; 
not  to  cheat  myself,  the  second.  I  had  seen  the  sort  of  men 
I  was  to  be  with.  I  set  to  work  to  study  and  to  understand 
the  kind  of  life  we  were  to  live  together. 

At  early  dawn  we  rose,  receiving  immediately  after  the 
nine  ounces  of  bread  and  pint  of  oatmeal  gruel  which  com- 
posed breakfast.  At  6.30,  to  chapel  to  hear  one  of  the 
schoolmasters  drone  through  the  morning  prayers  of  the 
English  Church  service,  and  listen  to  some  hymn  shouted 
out  from  throats  never  accustomed  to  such  accents.  Then 
the  morning  hours  would  drag  slowly  on  in  the  Summer's 
sun  and  Winter's  blast  until  the  noon  hour;  then  there  was 
the  long  march  back  from  the  scene  of  my  toil  to  the  prison 
for  dinner.  Arriving  there,  each  man  went  to  his  cell,  closing 
his  door,  which  snapped  to,  having  a  spring  lock.  Soon 
after  a  dinner  is  given  consisting  of  sixteen  ounces  of  boiled 
potatoes  and  five  ounces  of  bread,  varied  on  three  days  of 
the  week  with  five  ounces  of  meat  additional.  At  i  o'clock 
the  doors  were  unlocked  and  we  marched  out  to  our  work 
again.  At  night,  returning  to  the  prison,  eight  ounces  of 
black  bread  would  be  doled  out  for  supper.  Then  came 
the  hours  between  supper  and  bedtime,  when  shut  in  be- 
tween those  narrow  walls  one  realized  what  it  was  to  be  a 
prisoner. 

In  the  comer  of  the  cell  there  was  a  board  let  into  the 
stonework.  There  was  a  thin  pallet  and  two  blankets  rolled 
up  together  during  the  day  in  a  corner  of  the  cell  that  served 
for  bedding,  but  so  thin  and  hard  was  the  pallet  that  one 
might  almost  as  well  have  slept  on  the  board.  For  the  first 
few  weeks  this  bed  made  my  bones  ache.  Most  men  have 
little  patience  and  small  fortitude,  and  this  bed  kills  many 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  403 

of  the  prisoners.  I  mean  breaks  their  hearts,  simply  because 
they  have  not  the  wit  to  accept  the  matter  philosophically 
and  realize  that  they  can  soon  become  used  to  any  hardship. 
It  took  six  months  for  my  bones  to  become  used  to  the  hard 
bed,  but  for  the  next  nineteen  years  I  used  to  sleep  as  sweetly 
on  that  oak  board  as  I  ever  did  or  now  do  in  a  bed  of  down, 
only,  like  Jean  Valjean,  in  "Les  Miserables,"  I  had  become 
so  used  to  it  that  upon  my  liberation  I  found  it  impossible 
for  a  time  to  sleep  in  a  bed. 

On  a  little  rusty  iron  shelf,  fixed  in  the  comer,  was  our 
tinware.  Although  called  tinware,  it  really  was  zinc,  and 
was  susceptible,  through  much  hard  work,  of  a  high  polish, 
but  this  "polishing  tinware"  was  a  fearful  curse  to  the  poor 
prisoner.  It  consisted  of  a  jug  for  water  and  a  bowl  for 
washing  in  and  a  pint  dish  for  gruel.  There  were  strict  and 
imperative  orders,  rigidly  enforced,  that  this  tinware  should 
be  kept  polished,  the  result  being  that  the  men  never  washed 
themselves,  and  never  took  water  in  their  jugs,  for  if  they 
did  their  tinware  would  take  a  stain — "go  off,"  as  it  was 
termed — the  result  being  that  if  the  poor  devil  washed  and 
kept  himself  clean  he  would  be  reported  and  severely  pun- 
ished for  having  dirty  tinware. 

A  prisoner  is  not  permitted  to  receive  anything  from  his 
friends  or  communicate  with  them  in  any  way,  save  only 
once  in'  tliree  months  he  is  permitted  to  write  and  receive  a 
letter,  provided  he  is  a  good  character  and  has  not  been 
reported  for  any  infraction  of  the  rules  for  three  months;  for 
if  reported  for  any  cause,  however  trifling,  the  privilege  of 
writing  is  postponed  for  three  months,  and,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  more  than  half  of  the  men  never  get  a  chance  to  write 
during  their  imprisonment. 

A  visit  of  half  an  hour  once  in  three  months  is  permitted, 
but  this  is  a  favor  that  is  only  granted  upon  the  same  condi- 
tion as  the  privilege  of  letter  writing. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

WHAT,   THESE  TEDIOUS   DETAILS    AGAIN. 

It  will  be  well  to  present  here  some  account  of  those  who 
were  to  rule  my  life  for  so  many  years. 

The  Board  of  Prison  Commissioners  have  their  head- 
quarters at  the  Home  Office  in  Parliament  street,  London, 
and  are  under  the  control  of  the  Home  Secretary  of  State. 
One  of  these  visits  each  of  Her  Majesty's  convict  establish- 
ments once  a  month,  in  order  to  try  any  cases  of  insubordina- 
tion which  are  of  too  serious  a  nature  for  the  governor  of  the 
prison  to  adjudicate  upon,  he  not  being  permitted  to  order 
any  penalty  beyond  a  few  days  of  bread  and  water  and  loss 
of  a  limited  number  of  remission  marks. 

The  head  authority  at  each  prison  is  the  governor,  of 
whom  the  largest  establishments,  like  Chatham,  have  two. 
Next  comes  the  deputy  governors — the  medical  officer  and 
an  assistant  doctor;  the  chaplains  and  schoolmasters,  Prot- 
estant and  Catholic.  There  are  four  grades  of  prison 
warders,  viz.,  the  chief  warder,  principal  warders,  warders 
and  assistant  warders.  The  chief  warder,  of  course,  stands 
first  in  the  list,  and  his  duties,  if  honestly  executed,  render 
him  the  most  important,  as  he  is  the  most  responsible  of 
the  prison  officials,  save,  perhaps,  the  medical  officer,  who 
is  the  autocrat  of  the  place.  But,  in  case  anything  goes 
wrong,  he  is  the  man  who  gets  all  the  blame,  and  when  mat- 
ters run  smoothly  and  well,  the  governor  gets  all  the  thanks. 
During  the  absence  of  the  governor  the  deputy  takes  his 
(404) 


PROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE,  405 

place,  and  in  turn  the  chief  warder  performs  the  duties  of 
the  deputy  governor's  office.  As  all  business  passes  through 
the  chiefs  hands,  he  must  be  a  fair  scholar,  though  some- 
times a  principal  warder  who  understands  bookkeeping  is 
detailed  to  assist  him.  He  must  be  of  strict  integrity,  a 
thorough  disciplinarian,  and  of  a  character  to  make  him 
respected  both  by  his  superiors  and  inferiors  in  position. 
The  warders  of  all  grades  are  under  his  command,  and  must 
fear  him  for  his  inflexibility  in  punishing  any  breach  of 
regulations,  and  have  confidence  in  his  disposition  to  act 
justly  toward  them,  he  being  the  one  on  whom  the  governor 
relies  for  all  information  regarding  their  conduct  It  is  on 
the  reports  of  the  chief  warder  that  the  governor  acts  in  all 
cases  involving  their  promotion,  reprimands  or  fines,  and 
their  application  for  leave  of  absence  must  be  approved  of 
and  signed  by  him.  It  is  clear  that  unless  he  is  very  straight 
in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  he  would  soon  place  him- 
self in  the  power  of  some  of  the  warders,  who  would  not 
fail  to  take  advantage  of  any  knowledge  of  his  derelictions 
to  benefit  themselves,  and  to  the  detriment  of  discipline  and 
good  order.  Under  the  English  Government  the  salary  of 
a  man  possessing  these  superior  qualifications  is  between 
$500  and  $600  a  year  and  his  uniform.  This  is  of  blue  cloth, 
the  sleeves  and  collar  of  his  coat  and  his  cap  embroidered 
with  gold  lace.  On  alternate  days,  at  the  prison  where  I 
was  confined,  he  came  on  duty  at  5  a.  ni.  in  Summer  and 
5.30  in  Winter,  and  left  the  prison  at  4  p.  m.,  leaving  in 
charge  a  principal  warder,  coming  on  duty  the  following 
morning  at  7  a.  m.  At  6  o'clock  p.  m.,  after  receiving  the 
reports  from  the  ward  officers,  stating  the  number  of  pris- 
oners each  has  just  locked  up,  and  thus  seeing  that  all  are 
safe,  he  locks  with  his  master  key  the  gates  and  outer  doors 
of  the  main  buildings,  and  before  finally  retiring  for  the 
night  he  must  lock  the  outer  gate,  so  that  no  one  but  the 
governor  can  get  in  or  out — each  watchman  being  locked 


406  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

into  the  ward  which  he  is  set  to  g"uard.  There  are  bells  in 
his  room  connecting  with  the  various  wards,  and  in  case  of 
sickness  or  any  other  emergency,  he  is  the  man  who  is 
aroused.  It  is  the  chief  warder  who  keeps  everything  con- 
nected with  the  prison  in  running  order,  and  whatever  goes 
wrong  the  cry  is  for  the  chief,  and  he  is  sent  for,  be  it  day  or 
night 

In  a  large  establishment  there  are  a  dozen  or  more  prin- 
cipal warders.  These  are  the  lieutenants  of  the  chief,  and 
have  general  supervision  of  the  working  parties.  Their  pay 
is  about  $400  a  year  and  uniforms.  There  are  of  the  other 
two  grades,  warders  and  assistant  warders,  from  two  to  three 
thousand  employed  in  all  Her  Majesty's  prisons  in  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland.  Warders  and  assistant  warders  are 
provided  with  a  short,  heavy  truncheon,  which  each  carries 
in  his  hand  or  in  a  leather  sheath  which  hangs  from  his 
belt,  to  which  is  also  attached  a  sort  of  cartouch  box  in 
which  he  keeps  the  keys,  which  are  fastened  to  a  chain,  the 
other  end  to  his  belt.  When  about  to  leave  the  prison,  on 
going  off  duty,  he  must  hang  up  the  belt  and  attachments  in 
the  chief  warder's  office.  Their  pay,  besides  uniforms,  which 
are  of  blue  cloth,  is  $350  a  year  for  warders  and  $300  for 
assistant  warders.  All  promotions  are  by  seniority.  In  case 
of  transfer  by  authorities  to  any  other  prison,  they  retain 
their  position  in  the  line  of  promotion,  but  if  they  volunteer 
or  make  application  to  be  transferred  they  have  to  begin  at 
the  bottom  in  reckoning  the  length  of  service  for  promotion. 
When  the  authorities  wish  to  transfer  warders,  it  is  usual  for 
them  to  call  for  volunteers,  of  whom  they  find  a  sufficient 
number  anxious  for  a  change,  unless  the  transfer  is  to  an 
unpopular  station,  such  as  Dartmoor,  which  is  among  the 
bogs,  and  a  lonely,  bleak  place. 

Warders  are  exempted  from  doing  night  duty,  which  is 
all  done  by  the  assistant  warders,  who  are  on  that  service 
one  week  out  of  three.    Although  when  on  night  duty  they 


THEY    DO    IT    DIFFERENTLY    IN    CHIN^ 


THEY   don't    use    STRAIGHT-JACKETS    IN   PERSIA. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  407 

had  the  day  for  sleep  and  recreation,  I  never  saw  one  who 
did  not  detest  it,  because  they  must  remain  on  duty  contin- 
uously for  twelve  hours,  and  must  not  read,  sit  down  nor 
lean  against  anything,  nor  have  their  hands  behind  them. 
The'>e  military  regulations  apply  as  well  to  the  whole  time 
they  are  on  duty  in  the  prison,  day  or  night.  A  few  years 
ago  the  time  of  daily  duty  was  reduced  to  twelve  hours,  with 
one  hour  at  noon  for  dinner.  Besides  this,  at  times  they 
must  do  a  good  deal  of  extra  duty.  Each  is  allowed  ten  days 
annual  holiday,  but  is  frequently  obliged  to  take  it  piece- 
meal, a  day  or  two  at  a  time,  so  that  he  cannot  go  far  away 
from  the  scene  of  his  servitude.  Their  duties  require  un- 
flagging attention  and  never-ceasing  vigilance,  which  must 
be  a  heavy  tax  on  the  brain,  and  the  twelve  hours  must  be 
passed  in  standing  or  walking  about.  In'  fact,  they  are  sub- 
jected to  military  discipline,  or  rather  despotism,  and  any 
known  infraction  of  the  rules  subjects  them  to  penalties 
according  to  the  nature  of  the  ofifense.  Leaning  against  a 
wall,  sitting  down,  etc.,  for  a  first  offense,  they  are  mulcted 
in  a  small  sum — 12  to  60  cents,  usually — and  are  put  back 
in  the  line  of  promotion.  The  fines  go  to  the  Officers'  Li- 
brary fund.  I  knew  one  officer,  Joseph  Matthews,  who  had 
been  assistant  warder  twenty  years,  and,  being  frequently  set 
back  for  doing  some  small  favor  to  prisoners,  v/as  dis- 
charged from  the  service  in  1886,  without  a  pension,  for  some 
slight  breach  of  regulations.  He  had  a  wife  and  six  children, 
and  had  worked  twenty  years  for  less  than  $7  per  week. 
For  giving  a  convict  a  small  bit  of  tobacco,  a  heavy  fine, 
suspension,  and  in  case  it  was  not  the  first  offense,  expulsion 
from  the  service  without  a  pension.  For  acting  the  go- 
between  and  facilitating  correspondence  with  the  friends  of 
convicts,  expulsion — ^possibly  imprisonment.  One  of  the 
assistant  warders,  who  was  convicted  of  having  received  a 
bribe  of  iioo  from  one  of  us  at  Newgate,  was  expelled  from 
the  service  and  imprisoned  eighteen  months.     Another  at 


408  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Portsmouth  Prison  underwent  the  same  fate,  save  that  his 
term  was  but  six  months,  for  sending  and  receiving  letters 
for  a  prisoner,  and  similar  cases  are  of  frequent  occurrence. 

The  warders  and  assistant  warders  are  the  ones  who  come 
in  direct  and  constant  contact  with  prisoners,  and  when  the 
eye  of  no  superior  authority  is  on  them,  or  nothing  else  to 
deter,  they  are  "hail  fellow  well  met"  with  such  of  the  con- 
victs as  are  unprincipled  enough  to  curry  favor  with  and 
assist  them  in  covering  up  their  peccadilloes  from  their  supe- 
riors. Tliey  naturally  recoil  at  the  hardness  and  parsimony 
of  the  Government  toward  them,  evading  the  performance 
of  duties  when  they  can,  and  I  have  heard  more  than  one 
say:  "Why  should  we  care  what  prisoners  do,  so  long  as 
we  don't  get  into  trouble?  The  Government  grinds  us  down 
to  twelve  hours'  daily  duty  on  just  pay  enough  to  keep  body 
and  soul  together;  then,  if  we  complain,  tells  us  that  we  can 
leave  if  we  like,  as  there  are  others  ready  to  step  into  our 
places.  Bah!  what  do  we  care  for  the  Government?  It  is 
of  no  benefit  to  us;  the  big  guns  get  big  pay,  and  the  higher 
up  the  office  the  more  the  pay  and  the  less  the  work.  To  be 
sure,  we  can  go  out  of  the  prison  to  sleep,  but  otherwise  we 
are  bound  as  closely  as  you  are."  Yet  these  very  warders, 
the  moment  any  superior  authority  appears  on  the  scene, 
are  as  obsequious  and  fawning  as  whipped  dogs,  and  recoup 
themselves  for  this  forced  humiliation  by  taking  it  out  of 
such  of  the  convicts  as  fail  to  curry  their  favor,  or  offend,  or 
make  them  trouble.  Surely  their  office  is  a  very  responsible 
one,  and  it  is  blind,  false  economy  to.  retain  low-priced  men 
in  such  a  position.  The  present  English  system  of  penal 
servitude  is  perfect  on  paper,  but  the  moral  qualities  of  most 
of  the  w^arders  and  assistant  warders  preclude  all  possibility 
of  the  reformation  of  those  in  their  charge. 

Notwithstanding  the  expositions  of  the  English  delegates 
at  the  international  meetings,  prison  reform  has  never  yet 
been  tried  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.    In.  other  words,  all 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  409 

efforts  in  that  direction  have  been  defeated  by  placing  con- 
victs in  the  immediate  charge  of  a  class  of  men  who,  by  edu- 
cation and  training,  possess  none  of  the  qualifications  requi- 
site for  such  a  responsible  position. 

In  so  far  as  forms  are  concerned,  the  business  of  the 
prison  is  carried  on  most  systematically.  There  are  blank 
forms  which  cover  everything,  from  provisioning  the  prison 
to  bathing  the  men,  and  these  must  be  filled  in  and  signed  by 
the  warder  in  charge  of  the  particular  work  being  done.  For 
example,  every  week  he  must  fill  in  the  proper  form  and 
certify  that  every  man  in  his  ward  has  had  a  bath.  I  have 
known  men  to  go  unbathed  for  many  months,  simply  be- 
cause they  did  not  wish  to  bathe,  and  it  saved  the  warder 
trouble — nearly  all  others  in  the  ward  only  bathed  about  once 
a  month,  and  yet  at  the  stated  times  the  officer  filled'  up  and 
signed  the  form,  certifying  to  the  superior  authorities  that 
those  in  his  ward  had  been  bathed  at  the  regulation  times. 

A  great  majority  of  the  officers  are  soldiers  who  have 
been  invalided  or  pensioned  off  after  doing  the  full  term 
for  which  they  enlisted — twelve  years— and  of  sailors  in  the 
same  condition.  In  order  to  encourage  enlistment  into  the 
army  and  navy,  the  Government  gives  discharged  soldiers 
and  sailors  the  preference  in  the  civil  service,  apparently 
heedless  as  to  their  moral  qualifications.  Indeed,  it  would 
be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  ascertain  about  these,  for 
the  very  nature  and  present  requirements  of  these  services 
tend  to  harden  and  make  men  conscienceless,  subservient 
and  fawning  toward  their  superiors,  and  tyrannical  to  those 
in  their  power. 

As  to  those  in  the  prison  service,  there  are  many  who 
would  be  good  men  in  a  situation  suited  to  their  acquire- 
ments, and  there  are  but  a  few  of  those  who  are  brought 
into  immediate  contact  with  the  men — who,  in  fact,  virtually 
hold  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  them — whose  influence 
is  of  an  elevating  or  reforming  kind.    Indeed,  I  have  heard 


410  PROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

many  of  them  telling  or  exchanging  obscene  stories  with 
prisoners,  and  using  the  vilest  language  and  bandying 
thieves'  slang,  in  which  they  become  proficient.  I  am  bold 
to  say  that  at  least  one-half  of  all  I  have  known  are  in  morals 
on  a  level  with  the  average  prisoner,  or,  as  I  have  heard  more 
than  one  assistant  warder  say,  "Too  much  of  a  coward  to 
steal,  ashamed  to  beg  and  too  lazy  to  work" — therefore  be- 
came a  soldier,  then  a  warder.  This  may,  at  the  moment,  have 
been  spoken  in  a  jesting  way,  but  it  is  none  the  less  true. 

What  can  be  expected  in  the  way  of  refinement  and  good 
morals  from  a  class  of  men  who  entered  the  army  or  navy, 
coming,  as  they  did  in  most  cases,  from  the  untaught  and 
mind-debased  multitude  with  which  that  land  of  drink  and 
debauchery  swarms? 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  that  very  much  is 
expected  from  them,  and  in  order  to  fulfill  the  very  hard 
terms  of  their  contract  with  the  Government,  and  keep  their 
places,  they  are  forced  to  resort  to  trickery,  deception  and 
perjury,  until  these,  in  their  attitude  towai'd  their  employer, 
the  Government,  become  second  nature,  readily  resorting  to 
lies  to  clear  themselves  from  blame,  even  in  trivial  matters,  to 
save  themselves  from  a  sixpence  fine.  There  are  jealousies 
among  themselves,  but  when  it  is  a  question  of  deceiving  or 
keeping  any  neglect  of  duties  or  violences  against  prisoners 
from  the  superior  authorities  they  all  unite  as  one  man  and 
affirm  or  swear  to  anything  they  think  the  position  requires. 

A  real  pleasure  was  derived  from  those  prisoners'  friends, 
the  rats  and  mice,  which  I  easily  tamed  and  taught  to  be  my 
companions. 

Not  long  after  my  arrival  a  prisoner  gave  me  a  young 
rat  which  became  the  solace  of  an  otherwise  miserable 
existence.  Nothing  could  be  cleaner  in  its  habits  or  more 
affectionate  in  disposition  than  this  pet  member  of  a  despised 
race  of  rodents.  It  passed  all  its  leisure  time  in  preening 
its  fur,  and  after  eating  always  most  scrupulously  cleaned 


'COME    »l^,•.     V.jl"    AliK    FHKK."— PaK<>    480. 


•^ 


■.*■; 


VIA   THE   PRIMROSE   WAT?.  411 

its  hands  and  face.  It  was  easily  taught,  and  in  course  of 
time  it  could  perform  many  surprising  feats.  I  made  a  small 
trapeze,  the  bar  being  a  slate  pencil  about  four  inches  long, 
which  was  wound  with  yam  and  hung  from  strings  of  the 
same;  and  on  this  the  rat  would  perform  like  an  acrobat, 
appearing  to  enjoy  the  exercise  as  much  as  the  performance 
always  delighted  me.  I  made  a  long  cord  out  of  yam,  on 
which  it  would  climb  exactly  in  the  manner  in  which  a 
sailor  shins  up  a  rope ;  and  when  the  cord  was  stretched  hori- 
zontally it  would  let  its  body  sway  under  and  travel  along 
the  cord,  clinging  by  its  hands  and  feet  like  a  human  per- 
former. 

A  rat's  natural  position  when  eating  a  piece  of  bread  is  to 
sit  on  its  haunches,  but  I  had  trained  this  rat  to  stand  upright 
on  its  feet,  with  its  head  up  like  a  soldier.  Placing  it  in 
front  of  me  on  the  bed,  I'  would  hand  it  a  piece  of  bread, 
which  it  would  hold  up  to  its  mouth  with  its  hands  while 
standing  erect.  Keeping  one  sharp  eye  on  me  and  the 
other  on  its  food,  the  moment  it  noticed  that  I  was  not  look- 
ing it  would  gradually  settle  down  upon  its  haunches. 
When  my  eyes  turned  on  it  it  would  instantly  straighten 
itself  up  like  a  schoolboy  caught  in  some  mischief.  It 
always  showed  great  jealousy  of  my  tame  mice,  and  I  had  to 
be  very  careful  not  to  let  it  get  a  chance  to  get  at  one.  On 
one  occasion  I  was  training  one  of  the  mice,  and  did  not 
notice  that  the  rat  was  near.  Suddenly,  like  a  flash,  it  leaped 
nearly  tvvo  feet,  seizing  the  mouse  by  the  neck  precisely  as 
a  tiger  seizes  its  prey.  Although  I  instantly  snatched  it 
away,  it  was  too  late,  the  one  fierce  bite  having  severed  the 
jugular. 

I  have  mentioned  mice,  and  indeed  they  were  most  inter- 
esting pets,  easily  trained  and  as  scrupulously  clean  and  neat 
as  any  creature  of  a  higher  race  could  be.  I  at  times  had  a 
half  dozen  of  them,  which  I  had  caught  in  the  following 
simple  way:  I  first  stuck  a  small  bit  of  bread  on  the  inside 


412  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

of  my  pint  tin  cup,  about  half  way  down;  then  turning  it 
bottom  up  on  the  floor,  I  raised  one  edge  just  high  enough 
so  that  a  mouse  could  enter,  and  let  the  edge  of  the  cup,  rest 
on  a  splinter.  It  would  not  be  long  before  one  would  enter, 
and  as  it  could  not  reach  the  bread  otherwise  it  stood  up, 
putting  its  liands  against  the  sides  of  the  cup,  thus  over- 
balancing it,  causing  the  cup  to  drop,  and  simple  mousie 
would  find  itself  also  a  prisoner. 

Although  there  was  an  order  that  no  prisoner  should  be 
permitted  to  have  any  kind  of  pets,  especially  rats  and  mice, 
and  as  the  prison  swarmed  with  these,  the  warders  had 
become  tired  of  being  obliged  to  turn  over  the  cells  and 
prisoners  daily  in  search  of  these  contraband  favorites,  the 
loss  of  which  generally  provoked  the  owners  to  insubordi- 
nation; in  consequence  of  which  there  was  a  tacit  under- 
standing that  they  were  not  to  be  interfered  wdth,  provided 
they  were  kept  out  of  sight  when  the  governor  made  his 
rounds. 

Nothing  could  overcome  the  jealousy  of  my  otherwise 
gentle  rat  when  it  saw  me  petting  a  mouse,  and  it  would 
watch  for  an  opportunity  to  spring  upon  its  diminutive  rival 
and  put  a  speedy  end  to  its  career. 

I  had  one  mouse  which  to  its  other  accomplishments 
added  the  following:  It  would  lie  in  the  palm  of  my  open 
hand,  with  its  four  legs  up  in  the  air,  pretending  to  be  dead, 
only  the  little  creature  kept  its  bright  eyes  wide  open,  fixed 
on  my  face.  As  soon  as  I  said,  "Come  to  life!"  it  would 
spring  up,  rush  along  my  arm  and  disappear  into  my  bosom 
like  a  flash. 

I  had  a  mouse  trained  the  same  as  the  one  above 
described,  and  was  in  dread  lest  a  warder  should  see  and 
destroy  it  Therefore,  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  guarantee 
for  its  safety,  one  day  when  the  medical  officer  on  his  round 
came  to  my  cell  with  his  retinue  I  put  my  mouse  through 
the  "dead  dog"  performance,    The  little  fellow  lay  exposed 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  415 

in  my  hand  with  one  of  its  twinkUng  eyes  fixed  on  me,  and 
the  other  on  these  strangers.  Such  was  its  confidence  in 
me  that  it  went  through  the  performance  perfectly,  and 
when  I  gave  the  signal  in  an  instant  it  was  in  my  (as  the  poor 
thing  believed)  protecting  bosom.  The  doctors  laughed, 
and  the  retinue  of  course  followed  suit — if  they  had  frowned 
the  latter  would  have  done  likewise.  The  doctors  appeared 
so  pleased  that  I  felt  certain  they  would  order  the  warder, 
as  was  in  their  power,  to  let  me  keep  my  harmless  pet,  the 
sole  companion  of  my  solitude  and  misery,  unmolested. 

They  went  outside  the  cell  and  lingered;  in  a  moment 
then  the  warder  came  in,  and  after  a  struggle  got  the  mouse 
out  of  my  bosom  and  put  his  heel  upon  it.  I  am  not 
ashamed  to  confess  that  I  cried  over  the  loss  of  this  poor 
little  victim  of  overconfidence  in  human  beings. 

I  once  procured  a  beetle  with  red  stripes  across  its  wing- 
sheaths,  and  trained  it  to  show  some  degree  of  intelligence. 
This  was  for  months  the  sole  companion  of  my  solitude,  but 
it  was  at  last  discovered  in  my  possession  and  taken  away. 

I  made  friends  with  the  flies,  and  found  that  they  dis- 
played no  small  degree  of  intelligence.  I  soon  had  a  dozen 
tamed,  and  in  the  course  of  my  long  observations  I  dis- 
covered, among  other  things,  that  the  males  were  very 
tyrannical  over  the  fair  sex,  and  tried  to  prevent  them  from 
getting  any  of  the  food.  In  the  Summer  mornings  at  day- 
light they  would  gather  on  the  wall  next  my  bed  and  wait 
patiently  until  I  placed  a  little  chewed  bread  on  the  back  of 
my  hand,  when  instantlv  there  was  a,  rush,  and  the  first  one 
who  got  possession,  if  a  male,  tried  to  prevent  the  rest  from 
alighting,  and  would  dart  at  the  nearest,  chasing  it  in  zig- 
zags far  away.  In  the  mean  time  another  would  have  at- 
tained possession,  and  it  went  for  the  next  comer,  and  for  a 
long  time  there  would  be  a  succession  of  fierce  encounters, 
imtil  at  last  all  had  made  good  their  footing  and  feasted 
harmoniously;  for  as  fast  as  one  succeeded  in  alighting  it 
24; 


41«  PROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

was  let  alone.  Sometimes  a  male  would  take  possession  of 
my  forehead,  and,  in  case  I  left  him  unmolested,  he  would 
keep  off  intruders  on  what  he  evidently  considered  his 
domain  by  darting  at  them  in  a  ferocious  manner.  On  one 
occasion  I  noticed  a  fly  that  had  one  of  its  hind  legs  turned 
up,  apparently  out  of  joint.  As  it  was  feeding  on  my  hand  I 
tried  to  put  my  finger  on  the  leg  to  press  it  down.  During 
three  or  four  such  attempts  it  moved  away,  after  which  it 
appeared  to  recognize  my  kind  intention  and  stood  perfectly 
still  while  I  pressed  on  the  leg.  It  may  be  unnecessary  to 
add  that  I  failed  in  performing  a  successful  surgical  opera- 
tion. 

As  the  Winter  approached  the  flies  began  to  lose  their  legs 
and  wings;  those  that  lost  their  wings  would  walk  along  the 
wall  until  they  came  to  the  usual  waiting  spot,  and  as  soon 
as  I  put  a  finger  against  the  wall  the  maim.ed  creature  would 
crawl  to  the  usual  place  on  my  hand  for  breakfast.  Indeed, 
the  long  years  of  solitude  had  produced  in  me  such  an  unut- 
terable longing  for  the  companionship  of  something  which 
had  life  that  I  never  destroyed  any  kind  of  insect  which 
found  its  way  into  my  cell — even  when  mosquitoes  lit  on 
my  face  I  always  let  them  have  their  fill  undisturbed,  and 
felt  well  repaid  by  getting  a  glimpse  of  them  as  they  flew 
and  with  the  music  of  their  buzzing- 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

THE  DAYS  O'  SUMMER  MERRILY  SPENT  IN*  THE  LiAND 

OF    THE  HEATHER. 

In  the  cell  next  to  mine  was  a  prison  genius  named 
Heep,  who  was  one  of  the  most  singular  characters  I  ever 
met.  As  I  shall  have  occasion  to  speak  of  him  frequently,  I 
may  as  well  give  here  a  sketch  of  his  life  as  related  to  me 
by  himself.  He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Macclesfield,  near 
Manchester,  in  1852,  of  respectable  mechanics,  or  trades- 
people as  they  are  called  in  England.  His  father  died  when 
Heep  was  about  5  years  of  age,  and  after  a  time  his  mother 
married  a  carpenter  and  joiner  of  the  place. 

Young  Heep  was  a  lively  child,  up  to  all  sorts  of  tricks, 
and  does  not  remember  the  time  since  he  could  walk  that 
he  was  not  in  some  mischief,  and,  as  he  remarked,  "took 
to  all  sorts  of  deviltry  as  naturally  as  a  duck  to  water." 
As  long  as  his  father  lived  there  was  not  much  check  on 
his  mischievous  propensities,  but  his  stepfather  proved  to 
be  a  severe  and  stem  judge,  and  brought  him  to  book  for 
every  irregularity,  thrashing  him  most  unmercifully  for 
each  offense.  His  mother  could  not  have  filled  her  ma- 
ternal duty  very  judiciously,  judging  from  the  fact  that 
before  he  was  12  years  old  she  set  him  to  follow  and  watch 
his  stepfather  to  the  house  of  a  woman  of  whom  she  was 
jealous.  The  boy  possessed  great  natural  abilities,  and  in 
good  hands  would  have  turned  out  something  different 
than  a  life-long  prison  drudge.   He  was  handsome,  genteel  in 

(417) 


418  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

appearance,  an  apt  scholar,  tliough  very  self-willed  and  head- 
strong, and  as  he  grew  up  his  naturally  hot  temper  became 
uncontrollable.  At  an  early  age  he  had  discovered  that  by 
threats  of  self-injury  he  could  bend  his  parents  to  his  wishes, 
but  found  in  his  stepfather  one  who  would  put  up  with  no 
nonsense;  even  when  he  cut  himself  so  as  to  bleed  freely, 
instead  of  the  coveted  indulgence  it  only  procured  him  an 
additional  thrashing. 

At  15  he  had  become  ungovernable  at  home,  and  his 
father  had  him  put  in  the  county  insane  asylum,  where  he 
remained  a  year  and  a  half.  While  there  he  caused  so  much 
trouble  that  the  attendants  were  only  too  glad  when  he 
escaped  and  went  to  Liverpool.  Here  he  succeeded  in  get- 
ting a  situation  with  a  dealer  in  bric-a-brac,  rare  books  and 
antiquities.  In  a  short  time  the  proprietor  placed  so  much 
confidence  in  his  integrity  that  he  gave  him  the  charge  of 
his  place  during  his  own  absences,  and  young  Heep  was 
not  long  in  taking  advantage  of  his  position  to  rob  his 
employer  by  taking  a  book  or  other  article  which  he  sold 
to  some  one  of  his  master's  customers.  This  went  on  for 
some  time  until  on  one  occasion  he  took  the  book  to  a  shop 
kept  by  a  woman  to  w.hom  he  had  previously  sold  several 
articles  and  offered  it  for  a  sovereign.  She  examined  it 
and  found  that  it  was  an  ancient,  illuminated  Greek  manu- 
script, worth  fifty  times  more  than  the  price  young  Heep 
asked  for  it,  and,  suspecting  something  wrong,  she  told 
him  to  come  again  for  the  money  the  next  evening.  At 
the  appointed  time  he  entered  the  place  and  was  con- 
fronted by  his  master,  who  contented  himself  with  upbraid- 
ing him  for  his  perfidy  and  discharging  him  from  his 
service. 

At  this  period  of  his  career  he  had  contracted  vicious 
habits,  the  most  pernicious  for  him  being  that  of  drink,  for 
when  sober  he  was  in  his  right  mind,  but  the  moment  the 
drink  was  in  his  common  sense  departed,  and  he  became 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  419 

a  raving  maniac,  ready  to  fight  or  perpetrate  any  other  act 
of  folly.  Up  to  this  time  he  had  never  been  tempted  to  steal 
only  in  order  to  supply  means  for  improper  indulgences. 

Not  long  after  being  discharged  from  his  situation  he 
was  found  by  the  police  acting  in  so  insane  a  manner  under 
the  influence  of  drink  that  the  magistrate  before  whom  he 
was  taken  had  him  sent  to  the  Raynell  lunatic  asylum. 
Here,  being  perfectly  reckless,  he  carried  on  all  sorts  of 
games  which  made  him  obnoxious,  although  making  him- 
self very  useful  in  work  which  he  liked,  such  as  gardening, 
etc.  He  also  took  up  fancy  painting  and  soon  became  a 
skillful  copyist  of  prints  of  any  description,  enlarging  or 
reducing,  and  painting  them  in  oil  or  water  colors.  He 
also  became  a  good  decorator  and  scene  painter,  besides 
devoting  time  to  various  studies,  including  music. 

At  last  he  found  means  to  effect  his  escape  and  lay  in 
hiding  until  night;  then  as  he  had  on  the  asylum  clothes, 
which  would  betray  him,  he  went  back  and  got  in  through 
the  window  of  the  tailors'  shop,  which  was  in  an  isolated 
building,  and  exchanged  the  clothes  he  had  on  for  a  suit 
belonging  to  one  of  the  attendants.  Thinking  himself  now 
safe  from  recognition  he  started  oflf  across  the  country,  but 
had  not  gone  more  than  twenty  miles  when,  in  passing 
through  a  small  town,  a  policeman  who  had  just  heard  of 
the  escape  from  Raynell  arrested  him  on  suspicion. 

The  Raynell  authorities  sent  some  one  to  identify  him; 
he  was  taken  back,  tried  on  the  charge  of  stealing  the 
attendant's  suit  of  clothes,  which  he  still  had  on,  was  con- 
victed by  the  usual  intelligent  jury  and  sentenced  to  five 
years'  penal  servitude. 

He  finished  his  term  of  imprisonment  at  Chatham,  and 
instead  of  being  set  at  liberty  was  sent  under  guard  back 
to  the  asylum! 

According  to  English  law,  if  a  person  confined'  in  a 
lunatic  asylum  escapes  and  keeps  away  fourteen  days  he 


420  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

cannot  after  that  be  arrested,  unless  he  commits  fresh  acts 
of  insanity. 

After  several  futile  attempts  he  at  last  made  good  his 
escape  and  obtained  work  with  a  farmer,  where  he  remained 
safe  for  thirteen  days,  and  was  congratulating  himself  that 
in  less  than  another  day  he  would  be  free,  when  his 
thoughts  were  broken  off  by  the  appearance  of  tvVo  at- 
tendants who  seized  and  carried  him  back  to  the  asylum- 
The  events  above  narrated  had  driven  him  into  a  state 
of  desperation  at  what  he  felt  to  be  gross  injustice,  and  he 
carried  on  in  such  a  way  that  the  doctor  ordered  his  head 
to  be  shaved  and  blistered  as  a  punishment,  the  strait- 
jacket  and  all  other  coercive  measures  having  been  of  no 
avail.  The  night  watchman  had  orders  to  watch  him 
closely,  but  he  kept  so  sharp  an  eye  on  the  watchman  that 
he  caught  him  asleep,  and,  creeping  to  the  closet  window, 
which  he  had  previously  tampered  with,  crept  out,  and 
after  climbing  the  low  wall  found  himself  on  a  raw  Novem- 
ber night,  with  the  rain  falling  in  torrents,  a  stark-naked, 
head-shaved-and-blistered  but  once  more  a  free  man.  In 
this  condition  he  wandered  on  throughout  the  night,  and 
just  before  daylight  he  entered  a  cemetery  to  find  that 
refuge  among  the  dead  of  which  he  thought  himself  so 
cruelly  deprived  by  the  living. 

Beneath  the  entrance  to  the  church  there  was  a  passage 
which  led  to  some  famijy  vaults  in  the  basement,  and  he 
crept  down  the  passage  to  seek  some  shelter  for  his  nude 
body  from  the  driving  rain,  which  had  chilled  him  through. 
While  groping  about  In  the  dark  his  hand  rested  on  some- 
thing soft,  which,  to  his  unbounded  delight,  proved  to  be 
an  old  coat  which  had  probably  been  left  there  by  the  sex- 
ton and  forgotten.  He  remained  hidden  all  day,  and  trav- 
eled through  the  fields  all  night,  during  which  he  found  a 
scarecrow,  from  which  he  transferred  to  his  owti  person 
its  old  hat  and  trousers. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  421 

He  said  that  although  so  hungry,  he  never  had  felt  so 
happy  as  he  did  at  finding  himself  once  more  dressed  up. 
After  proceeding  a  few  miles  farther,  he  ventured  into  a 
laborer's  cottage  in  quest  of  food,  which  was  given  him, 
and  with  it  a  pair  of  old  boots.  As  dilapidated,  ragged, 
vagabond-looking,  honest  people  are  common  in  England, 
no  questions  were  asked,  and  he  proceeded  on  his  way 
rejoicing  in  that  freedom  of  which  he  had  been  deprived 
for  ten  years  or  more. 

Amid  all  his  pranks  he  had  never  been  charged  with 
idleness,  and  now  worked  at  odd  jobs  about  the  farms  until 
he  had  procured  a  decent  suit  of  clothes,  when  he  applied 
to  a  master  house  painter  for  work  as  a  journeyman, 
though  he  had  never  done  anything  of  that  kind.  The 
master,  pleased  with  his  appearance,  gave  him  a  trial,  but 
the  first  job  showed  such  ignorance  of  the  art  of  house 
painting  that  he  was  forthwith  discharged  with  half  a  day's 
wages.  However,  he  had  picked  up  some  valuable  hints, 
and  being  very  apt  by  the  time  he  had  been  more  or  less 
summarily  discharged  from  half  a  dozen  places  he  had 
become  a  good  workman,  and  henceforth  had  no  trouble 
about  retaining  any  situation  as  long  as  he  refrained  from 
beer  and  restrained  his  temper;  but  at  the  slightest  fault- 
finding on  the  part  of  the  master  he  would  fly  into  a  passion 
and  throw  up  the  situation,  and  this,  especially,  if  he  sus- 
pected that  anything  had  leaked  out  about  his  imprison- 
ment. 

While  at  work  with  a  companion  at  painting  the  interior 
of  a  gentleman's  residence  near  Bradford  a  word  or  two 
was  dropped  which  made  him  believe  his  fellow  workman 
had  become  aware  of  his  being  an  ex-convict.  Quitting 
work,  he  went  to  a  public  house,  passing  the  rest  of  the 
day  in  carousing.  About  midnight,  while  on  his  way  to  his 
boarding  house,  it  occurred  to  him  that  he  had  noticed  a 
good  many  valuable  things  about  the  gentleman's  house 


422  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

which  he  could  obtain.  No  sooner  thought  than  done;  the 
entrance  was  in  a  moment  guined;  he  had  just  conscious- 
ness enough  left  to  gather  a  few  things,  then  lie  down  by 
the  side  of  them  and  fell  into  a  drunkard's  sleep,  in  which 
the  servants  found  him  when  they  came  down  in  the  morn- 
ing. A  constable  was  sent  for,  he  was  given  in  charge, 
tried,  convicted  of  the  crime  of  burglary  and  sentenced 
to  seven  years'  penal  servitude. 

His  former  term  of  five  years  had  made  him  proficient 
in  all  the  dodges  of  prison  life,  and  he  felt  justified  in  his 
own  mind  in  using  aJl  his  craft  in  order  to  put  in  his  seven 
years  as  easily  as  possible.  As  he  had  been'  in  Raynell  asy- 
lum, he  knew  that  by  "putting  on  the  balmy"  so  as  to  be 
sent  to  the  lunatic  department  he  would  not  be  sub- 
jected to  the  prison  rules  and  be  as  well  oflf  as  he  hjad 
been  in  the  free  asylum.  Persistent  attempts  at  suicide 
by  cutting  himself  in  the  arms  and  legs  with  a  piece  of 
glass  so  as  to  bleed  freely  accomplished  his  purpose.  Being 
placed  with  the  other  convict  lunatics,  he  made  him- 
self useful,  but  on  account  of  his  bad  temper  and 
overbearing,  quarrelsome  disposition,  obnoxious  to  his 
fellow  prisoners. 

Eventually  he  was  discharged  with  an  eighteen  months* 
ticket-of-leave  and  $2.50  as  capital  for  a  new  departure. 

He  went  to  Liverpool,  procured  a  passage  on  board  a 
freight  steamer  to  America,  which  he  paid  for  by  working 
at  painting.  Landing  at  New  York,  he  made  his  way  to 
Norfolk,  Va.,  where  he  procured  work  as  a  painter.  Owing 
to  his  infirmity  of  temper  he  did  not  keep  his  place  long, 
and  after  knocking  about  for  a  few  months  he  took  a  freak 
to  return  to  England — the  last  place  of  all  for  any  man 
who  has  once  been  a  prisoner. 

Once  more  in  his  native  land,  he  procuredl  work  without 
difficulty  at  house  painting,  but,  as  usual,  remained  in  one 
place  but  a  very  short  time.    His  earnings,  like  those  of  a 


AFTER  IMPRISONMENT.     (From  Photo,  by  Stuart,  Hartford.) 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  423 

great  majority  of  the  working  class  in  England,  were  squan- 
dered in  the  public  house. 

Soon  after  the  events  just  recorded,  Heep  concluded  to 
visit  his  old  home  in  Macclesfield.  He  accordingly  threw 
up  his  situation,  and  arrived  at  the  railway  station  an  hour 
before  the  train  was  due.  In  order  to  while  away  the  time 
he  entered  a  public  house  and  dnank  several  glasses  of  ale. 
The  compartment  which  he  entered  happened  to  be  empty, 
and  as  usual  whenever  he  indulged  his  appetite  for  any- 
thing containing  alcohol,  he  was  soon  quite  out  of  his  mind 
and  fancied  that  some  one  on  the  train  was  coming  to 
murder  him,  and  leaped  headlong  from  the  train,  which 
was  going  at  the  rate  of  forty  miles  an  hour.  This  came 
to  a  standstill,  he  was  taken  on  board  again,  not  seriously 
injured,  and  left  at  Wrexham  in  Denbighshire,  from  which 
he  was  sent  to  the  Denbigh  Insane  Asylum.  This  being 
a  Welsh  institution,  did  not,  according  to  Heep,  possess 
those  facilities  for  enjoying  life  which  were  so  liberally 
supplied  to  the  inmates  of  the  Raynell  asylum  near  Liver- 
pool. Accordingly  he  behaved  himself  with  so  much  pro- 
priety that  the  doctor  discharged  him  as  cured. 

Not  long  after  his  return  he  got  work  near  Manchester 
at  painting  in  a  block  of  new  houses  where  the  plumbers 
were  at  work  putting  in  the  gas  and  water  pipes.  On  a 
Saturday,  when  he  left  work  at  noon,  he -met  a  young 
plumber  who  was  out  of  a  job.  This  man  said  he  knew 
where  he  could  earn  a  sovereign  if  he  had  tools  to  do  a 
job  in  a  butcher  shop,  and  told  Heep  that  if  he  would  go 
to  the  houses  where  he  had  been  painting  and  borrow  a 
few  plumbers'  tools  and  assist  him  he  would  divide  the 
amount.  Heep  went  back,  but  finding  that  the  master 
plumber  and  all  his  men  had  gone  (Saturday  afternoon  in 
England  being  a  half-holiday  for  laborers),  he  took  the 
few  tools  required,  went  and  finished  the  job  by  7  p.  m.; 
then  instead  of  taking  the  tools  back,  they  went  into  a 


424  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

public  house  where  they  caroused  till  midnight,  when  they 
separated,  Heep  taking  the  tools  to  his  boarding  house. 
On  Monday  he  started  early,  so  as  to  get  the  tools  back 
before  the  other  workmen  arrived.  On  nearing  the  houses 
he  passed  a  policeman  who  walked  a  little  lame.  He  turned 
his  head  to  look  back,  and  the  policeman  happened  to  do 
the  same  thing,  and  seeing  Heep  looking  at  him  his  sus- 
picions were  aroused.  Turning  back,  he  came  up  and 
asked  him  what  he  had  in  the  two  bosses  (tool  baskets). 
Heep  informed  him,  and  on  further  questioning  showed 
him  the  key  to  the  house  from  which  he  had  taken  the 
tools,  and  asked  him  to  accompany  him  there,  which  he 
did.  They  entered,  Heep  putting  back  the  tools,  and 
showed  the  policeman  where  he  had  been  painting^  and 
wished  him  to  stay  until  the  master  came  in  half  an  hour. 
This  the  policeman  declined  to  do,  and  took  the  tools  and 
told  Heep  to  come  to  the  police  station. 

Heep  lost  his  temper  and  began  cursing  him.  The  po- 
liceman went  to  the  door,  and  seeing  another  just  passing 
beckoned  him  in,  and  the  two  marched  him  to  the  station. 
The  plumber  was  sent  for,  and  was  induced  to  make  a 
charge  against  Heep  and  value  the  stolen  goods  at  ten 
shillings.  Seeing  that  the  police  were  bound  to  make  a 
case  against  him,  he  seized  the  plumber's  knife  and  cut 
his  thfoat,  severing  the  windpipe.  The  doctor  was  sent 
for,  he  was  transferred  to  the  jail  hospital,  and  in  the  course 
of  two  or  three  weeks  was  well  enough  to  appear  before 
the  magistrate,  though  he  could  not  speak,  and  was  bound 
over  for  trial. 

In  the  mean  time  the  police  had  discovered  that  he  had 
served  two  penal  terms,  on  the  strength  of  which,  when 
convicted,  the  magistrate  sentenced  him  to  ten  years'  penal 
servitude. 

At  the  trial  he  had  not  yet  recovered  the  use  of  his 
voice,  nor  did  he  have  any  one  to  defend  him,  for  at  that 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY. 


425 


time,  unlike  the  present,  the  Crown  did  not  furnish  a  lawyer 
for  the  defense  of  those  who  were  unable  to  employ  one  at 
their  own  expense.  When  the  magistrate  was  about  to 
pronounce  the  sentence,  he  said  that  as  the  prisoner  had 
escaped  from  ordinary  asylums  he  should  send  him  to  a 
place  from  which  he  could  not  escape — meaning  a  prison. 


SANK   OF    ENGLAND    SCENE. VISITOR    HOLDING    £1,000,000    ($5,000,000) 

BANK    OF    ENGLAND   NOTES. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

WE     WIIiLi     FERRY   YOU    OVER    JORDAN    THAT    ROLLS 
BETWEEN. 

Once  convicted  of  a  crime  in  England  it  is  impossible, 
unless  a  man  has  money  or  friends,  for  him  to  obtain  an 
honest  livelihood  unless  he  is  the  happy  possessor  of  a 
trade.  All  the  great  corporations  demand  references  that 
will  cover  a  series  of  years  of  the  applicant's  life,  and„  above 
all,  strict  inquiry  is  made  as  to  his  last  employer.  This 
cuts  the  ground  out  from  under  the  feet  of  the  unfortunate, 
and  feeling  that  England  can  no  longer  be  a  home  to  him 
he  turns  his  eyes  as  a  matter  of  course  to  America. 

A  fair  percentage  of  the  prisoners  are  men  who  perhaps 
under  great  temptation,  or  while  under  the  influence  of 
drink,  have  broken  the  laws,  but  yet  are  honorably  minded 
and  resolved  in  future  to  lead  an  honest  life.  Such  are 
not  undesirable  citizens;  but  there  is  another  class,  that 
of  the  professional  criminal;  with  these  the  prisons  swarm, 
and,  worse  yet,  the  slums  and  saloons  of  the  great  cities 
are  breeding  thousands  more  that  will  take  the  places  of 
those  now  on  the  stage. 

The  conditions  of  society  in  England  are  such  that  the 
procession  of  criminals  is  an  unending  one.  The  society 
that  creates  the  criminal  also  has  established  a  system  of 
police  repression  that  makes  the  life  history  of  society's 
victim  one  of  misery,  until  such  time  when  the  criminal, 
growing  wise  by  experience,  shakes  the  dust  of  English 
(426) 


FROItl  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  427 

soil  off  from  his  feet  and  transfers  himself,  a  moral  ruin, 
to  our  country,  here  to  become  a  curse  and  a  burden. 

This  flow  of  moral  sewage  to  our  shores  is  constant  and 
unceasing.  Our  Government  has  frequently  protested 
against  it,  but  with  no  success,  for  the  officials  in  England 
indignantly  deny  that  the  State  either  encourages  or  assists 
the  exodus  of  her  criminal  classes;  but  from  my  personal 
knowledge  I  know  this  to  be  false.  The  officials  over 
there  have  found  out  an  effectual  way  to  rid  themselves 
of  their  discharged  prisoners  as  fast  as  their  sentences  ex- 
pire, and  cast  them  on  our  shores,  and  this  is  so  ingenious 
a  way  that  the  wrong  can  never  be  brought  home  to 
them. 

During  my  twenty  years'  residence  in  Chatham  I  sup- 
pose nearly  half  as  many  thousands  asked  me  for  informa- 
tion about  America,  and  at  least  95  per  cent,  assured  me 
that  when  released  they  would  "join  the  society"  and  depart 
at  once  for  that  happy  hunting  ground — that  Promised 
Land  which  charms  the  imagination  no  less  of  the  criminal 
than  of  the  honest  poor  of  the  Old  World.  In  every  Eng- 
lish prison  the  walls  are  decorated  with  placards,  gorgeous 
in  hue,  of  rival  firms  appealing  to  the  readers  for  patronage. 
"Join  us,"  they  all  say;  and  every  prisoner  knows  the  appeal 
"join  us"  means  if  you  do  we  will  ferry  you  over  thei  Jordan 
that  rolls  between  this  desert  land  and  the  plains  flowing 
with  milk  and  honey  on  the  other  side.  The  "firms"  I 
mention  are  those  arch  humbugs,  the  Prisoners'  Aid  So- 
cieties of  England. 

Elizabeth  Fry,  who  made  "aid  to  prisoners"  fashionable 
and  a  society  fad  in  England,  has  much  to  answer  for. 
Prisoners'  Aid  Societies  have  sprung  up  in  every  quarter 
of  England,  and  having  a  rich  soil,  and  under  the  fostering 
care  of  the  Government,  have  flourished  with  a  rank  and 
luxuriant  growth.  These  societies  draw  their  nourishment 
from  English  soil,  but,  unhappily  for  us,  their  tall  branches 


428  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

hang  over  our  wall  and  their  ripened  fruit  falls  on  our 
ground. 

From  the  time  a  prisoner  becomes  accustomed  to  his 
surroundings  until  the  hour  of  his  release  the  one  thing 
ever  uppermost  in  his  thoughts,  the  one  distracting  sub- 
ject and  cause  of  anxious  solicitude,  is  the  question,  "Which 
society  shall  I  join?"  It  is  a  tolerably  safe  venture  to  pre- 
dict that  he  will  "join"  "The  Royal  Prisoners'  Aid  Society 
of  London,"  which  society  is  happy  in  having  Her  Gracious 
Majesty  and  a  long  list  of  illustrious  lords  and  ladies  for 
"governors."  What  that  may  mean  no  one  knows.  Cer- 
tainly no  benefit  from  these  people  ever  accrues  to  the  dis- 
charged prisoners,  but  who  can  describe  the  glory  that 
falls  on  the  four  or  five  reverend  gentlemen,  sons,  nephews 
or  brothers  of  deans  or  bishops,  high-salaried  secretaries 
of  this  particular  society,  who  pose  at  the  annual  meeting 
in  Exeter  Hall,  before  a  brilliant  audience,  and  after  have 
the  felicity  of  seeing  their  report  in  the  church  and  society 
journals  and  their  names  connected  with  such  exalted 
people. 

The  way  the  Government  over  there  accomplishes  its 
purpose  of  getting  rid  of  its  criminal  population  at  our 
expense  and  at  the  same  time  is  able  to  answer  the  charges 
of  our  Government  with  disavowal  is  this: 

The  Home  Secretary  alone  possesses  the  pardoning 
power  for  the  United  Kingdom,  and  directly  controls  every 
prison,  his  fiat  being  law  in  all  things  to  every  official  as 
well  as  to  every  inmate.  He  has  officially  recognized  and 
registered  at  the  Home  Office  every  prisoners'  aid  society 
in  England,  Scotland  and  Wales,  and  in  order  to  boom 
them  he  gives  to  every  discharged  prisoner  an  extra  gra- 
tuity of  £3  provided  he  "joins"  a  prisoners'  aid  society  on 
his  discharge,  the  result  being  that  all  do  so.  England 
is  a  small  and  compact  country,  and  the  police  have  practi- 
cally one  head,  and   that   head    is    the    Home    Secretary. 


VIA  THE   PRIMROSE  WAY.  429 

Under  the  circumstances  the  system  of  police  espionage 
is  so  perfect  that  whenever  a  discharged  prisoner  is  recon- 
victed for  another  crime  he  cannot  escape  recognition,  and 
in  all  such  cases  the  Home  Secretary  notifies  the  particular 
aid  society  who  received  the  prisoner  on  his  discharge  of 
the  fact,  very  much  to  the  vexation  of  the  officials  of  the 
society,  who  are  all  anxious  for  a  good  record  in  reforming 
men  that  come  officially  under  their  auspices.  They  pub- 
lish that  all  who  are  never  reported  as  reconvicted  are  re- 
formed, and  all  love  to  make  a  big  showing  for  the  money 
subscribed  at  the  all-important  annual  meeting,  the  result 
being  that  all  the  men  hustled  out  of  the  country  by  the 
society  count  as  reformed  men. 

These  societies  are  supported  by  subscriptions,  which 
all  go  in  salaries  and  office  rents.  The  assistance  given  to 
the  discharged  prisoner  is  limited  to  the  £3  extra  gratuity 
given  the  society  by  the  Government  on  the  prisoner's 
behalf.  The  London  societies  have  an  agreement  with  the 
Netherlands  Line  and  the  Wilson  Line  of  steamers  to 
"take  to  sea"  for  I2  los.  all  "workingmen"  they  send  to 
them.  I  have  talked  to  thousands  of  men  who  "joined  the 
society,"  most  of  whom  intended  to  go  to  America,  and  I 
have  talked  to  scores  who  had  "joined,"  but  who,  unluckily 
for  themselves,  not  leaving  England,  were  reconvicted  and 
sent  back  to  Chatham.  Throughout  twenty  years  I  con- 
versed with  several  thousand  men  who  joined  the  society 
avowing  they  were  going  to  America,  and  were  never  heard 
of  again  in  England,  and  have  also  known  some  scores  of 
men  who  passed  through  the  hands  of  the  society  agents, 
yet  were  afterward  reconvicted.  Therefore  I  am  in  a  posi- 
tion to  speak  with  authority  on  the  important  question  of 
England  dumping  her  criminal  population  on  our  shores. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 

"WELL.,    MT    MAN.    WHAT  DO   YOU  INTEND  TO  DO?"     "I 

WANT    TO    GO    TO    AMERICA,     SIR."        "TUT!      TUT! 

YOU  MEAN  YOU    WANT    TO    GO    TO     SEA!" 

"YES,    SIR;   I  WANT  TO  GO  TO  SEA." 

The  Royal  Society  and  The  Christian  Aid  Societies,  pre- 
sided over  by  a  Rev.  Mr.  Whitely,  enjoy  a  bad  pre-eminence 
in  this  respect.  The  year  before  my  release  the  latter  stated 
at  the  annual  meeting  that  six  thousand  discharged  pris- 
oners had  passed  through  his  society,  and  I  venture  to 
assert  that  five  thousand  of  these  found  their  way  to  this 
country  through  the  assistance  of  this  society.  These  two 
societies  have  been  boomed  to  an  incredible  extent,  and 
it  would  be  a  curious  study  if  any  report  could  be  had  as 
to  how  the  large  subscriptions  were  actually  expended. 

For  the  sake  of  making  my  narrative  clear,  I  will  here 
only  speak  of  the  first-named  society. 

Two  months  before  release  the  prisoner  must  inform 
the  warder  that  he  intends  to  join  the  Royal  Society.  He 
notifies  the  Home  Office,  which  in  turn  notifies  the  society 
and  forwards  a  warrant  for  £3.  The  prisoner  upon  dis- 
charge takes  a  certain  train  for  London,  and  is  met  upon 
his  arrival  at  the  station  by  an  agent  of  the  society.  This 
agent  ranks  as  a  ser\''ant,  is  usually  an  ex-prisoner  and  is 
always  paid  21  shillings  a  week.  He  pilots  his  man  at  a 
certain  hour  before  the  Reverend  Secretary,  and  here  fol- 
lows a  verbatim  report  of  the  dialogue  between  the  great 
(430) 


LEAVING    UVERPOOL. GEORGE    BIDWELL  8    FAREWELL   TO   JOHN    BULL. 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  433 

man  and  the  poor,  timid  .and  dreadfully  embarrassed  ex- 
prisoner:  , 

GFeat  Man — Well,  my  man,  what  do  you  intend  to  do? 

Ex-Prisoner — I  want  to  go  to  America. 

Great  Man — Tut!  tut!  my  man;  you  mean  you  want  to 
go  to  sea. 

Ex-Prisoner  (taking  the  hint) — Yes,  sir;  I  want  to  go 
to  sea. 

Great  Man — ^Very  well,  my  man.  Go  with  this  agent, 
who  will  fix  it  with  the  ship  captain  so  you  can  go  to  sea. 

If  a  steamer  of  either  line  named  is  about  to  sail  he  is 
taken  on  board  at  once  goes  to  the  steerage,  and  just  before 
sailing  the  agent  hands  him  a  ticket  and  the  criminal  is  safely 
oflf  ior  America.  England  is  rid  of  a  bad  subject,  and  the 
Royal  Society  has  one  more  "reformed"  man  to  put  in  its 
report.  In  addition  to  the  ^3  gratuity  the  ex-prisoner  has 
been  paid  £1,  £2  or  ^3  in  addition,  provided  his  sentence 
had  been  at  least  five  years.  The  society  is  not  a  cent  out 
of  pocket  over  him,  and  forlorn  and  friendless  he  lands 
here  with  from  $2  to  $15  in  his  pocket.  He  has  got  the 
cheap  suit  of  clothes  he  wears,  one  handkerchief  and  one 
pair  of  stockings  extra.  It  is  almost  certain  he  will  speedily 
drift  into  crime,  spending  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  prison, 
and  finally  dying  there  or  in  the  poorhouse. 

There  is  just  one  way  this  evil  can  be  stopped — I  might 
say  two  ways.  The  first,  and  a  method  that  would  be 
effectual  in  stopping  the  influx  of  criminals  from  all  coun- 
tries, is  to  let  Congress  put  a  tax  of  $30  or  $50  on  the 
steamship  companies  for  every  passenger  not  an  American 
citizen  whom  they  bring  to  America.  Not  one  discharged 
criminal  in  a  thousand  could  meet  the  tax  in  addition  to 
the  fare.  The  only  other  way  possible  would  be  for  our 
Government  to  request  the  English  Government  to  furnish 
them  with  photographs,  marks  and  measurements  of  all 
discharged  criminals.  Then  have  them  copied  and  sent  to 
25. 


434  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

the  Immigration  Commissioners  of  our  ports.  But  that 
would  involve  a  radical  change  in  these  boards  and  their 
methods.  Efficiency  there  under  our  corrupt  system  is,  I 
fear,  hopeless. 

I  visited  Ellis  Island  a  few  days  ago  and  saw  how  they 
passed  a  shipload  of  immigrants  in  a  few  minutes,  and  as 
I  looked  I  felt  it  was  hopeless  to  expect  any  efficient  meas- 
ures to  throw  back  the  foul  tide  that  is  polluting  our  shores. 

Seldom  as  men  of  the  criminal  class  once  safe  in  America 
ever  return  to  England,  yet  they  do  now  and  then  return. 
In  the  two  or  three  cases  that  came  under  my  observation 
it  was  very  much  to  their  loss  and  grief,  for  they  only  came 
back  to  undergo  another  term. 

One  day,  in  1890,  a  man  working  in  my  party  slipped  a 
note  into  my  hand  that  had  been  given  him  for  me  in  chapel 
that  morning.  As  in  similar  cases,  I  secreted  the  note,  and 
when  safe  in  my  little  room  I  read  it.  The  writer  said  he 
had  lately  come  down  from  London,  and  was  most  anxious 
to  get  into  my  party  in  order  to  have  a  chance  to  talk  with 
me.  He  said  he  had  been  living  in  Chicago  and  could  give 
me  all  the  news.  He  ended  the  note  by  stating  he  was  being 
murdered  by  hard  work,  and  implored  me  to  try  and  get 
him  into  my  party,  where  it  was  not  so  hard.  This  I  was 
most  anxious  to  do,  as  in  my  party  we  could  talk  almost 
with  impunity.  To  have  a  man  near  me  fresh  and  only  a 
year  before  in  Chicago  would  be  like  a  letter  from  home  and 
also  a  newspaper.  Therefore,  I  determined  to  get  Foster 
in  my  party  if  possible.  At  this  time  I  had  been  seventeen 
years  a  resident,  and  was,  in  fact,  the  oldest  inhabitant,  and 
had  some  little  influence  in  a  quiet  way.  About  eleven  years 
before  I  had  been  put  in  the  party,  and  had  a  chance  to 
learn  bricklaying,  and  having  become  an  expert  in  the  art 
was  given  charge  of  the  bricklaying.  I  was  on  the  best  of 
terms  with  our  officer,  so  when,  a  day  or  two  later,  one  of 
our  men  was  so  fortunate  (in  the  Chatham  view  of  it)  as 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  435 

to  meet  with  an  accident  and  be  admitted  to  that  heaven, 
the  infirmary,  I  told  my  officer  to  ask  for  Foster  to  replace 
him.  He  did  so,  and  he,  very  much  to  his  gratification, 
found  himself  by  my  side,  with  a  trowel  instead  of  a  shovel 
in  his  hand.  We  worked  side  by  side,  Winter  and  Summer, 
storm  and  shine,  for  two  years,  and  in  spite  of  myself  I 
began  soon  to  like  the  man.  His  chief  and  only  virtues 
were  truthfulness  and  fair-mindedness  toward  his  friends — 
rare  and  incongruous  virtues  for  a  professional  burglar; 
nevertheless,  he  possessed  them  in  a  marked  degree.  This 
is  a  statement  to  make  a  cynic  smile,  and  is  one  of  those 
cases  where  the  result  is  justifiable;  yet,  however  the  cynic 
may  smile,  there  is  plenty  of  all-around  good  faith  in  the 
world,  and  there  is  no  nation,  race  or  color,  no  clique,  re- 
ligion nor  social  strata,  that  has  a  monopoly  of  the  article. 
Good  faith  and  truth  grow  in  unlikely  places,  as  I  have 
found  in  my  career,  for  I  have  looked  on  life  from  both 
sides,  and  to  look  on  it  from  the  seamy  side  is  instructive, 
indeed,  for  then  the  mask  is  off  and  the  true  character  is 
revealed.  I  have  been  away  down  in  the  depths,  and  for 
years  have  toiled  cheek  by  jowl,  through  sunshine  and 
storm,  in  blinding  snows  and  pelting  rain,  with  my  brother 
men  under  conditions  too  brutal  and  demoralizing  to  be 
understood  if  described — conditions  where  the  very  worst 
side  of  human  character  would  naturally  be  thought  to  come 
to  the  front,  and  I  came  out  of  the  fierce  struggle  in  that  pit 
of  death  with  conclusions  as  to  the  human  animal  that  are 
decidedly  favorable,  and  I  am  inclined  to  the  view  that  man 
was  bom  almost  an  angel,  and  that,  in  spite  of  the  fearful 
temptations  of  the  world  into  which  he  has  been  thrust,  much 
of  the  angelic  pottery  abides. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 

MANY   A   MAN   MORE   DANGEROUS  WRITES  ALDERMAN 
AFTER  HIS  NAME. 

Foster's  experience  during  his  four  years'  residence  in 
Chicago  was  decidedly  novel,  and  it  had  evidently  brightened 
his  wits — ^that  is,  increased  his  cunning  without  adding  to  his 
honesty.  And  as  I  think  it  will  interest  my  reader  to  get  a 
view  of  life  from  the  actor's  own  standpoint,  I  will  relate  one 
of  the  many  stories  he  told  me  during  the  years  we  worked 
together. 

Upon  Foster's  release  from  his  first  term  of  imprison- 
ment he  joined  the  Christian  Aid  Society  of  London,  and 
Mr.  Whitely,  the  secretary,  promptly  "sent  him  to  sea,"  as 
he  has  thousands  of  others.  In  due  time  he  arrived  in  New 
York,  but  as  he  had  heard  much  of  Chicago  he'  determined 
to  go  there.  He  arrived  penniless,  but  within  an  hour  Van 
against  an  old  friend  in  the  person  of  a  former  partner  in 
the  art  of  burglary  who  had  been  a  fellow  prisoner  with  him 
in  London,  This  man's  name  was  Turtle,  and  Mr.  Whitely 
had  only  "sent  him  to  sea"  two  brief  years  before.  It  was 
plain  from  his  magnificent  diamond  ring,  pin  and  big  bank 
roll,  freely  displayed,  that  the  seafaring  life  of  the  former 
protege  of  the  London  Prison  Aid  Society  was  a  profitable 
occupation.  He  was  delighted  to  meet  Foster,  and  took 
him  to  a  tailor's  at  once  and  fitted  him  out  liberally,  at  the 
same  time  handing  him  $250,  just  for  pocket  money. 
(43«) 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  437 

When,  on  the  next  day,  Foster  stated  to  his  friend  that 
he  was  ready  to  undertake  a  burglary,  Turtle  was  displeased, 
and  said:  "No;  we  are  on  the  honest  game,  which  pays 
better."  What  that  was  will  appear.  Turtle  had  a  large 
private  inquiry  office,  with  two  of  the  city  detectives  for 
side  partners,  who  turned  over  to  him  all  business  in  which 
there  was  a  prospect  of  mutual  profit.  All  imaginable 
schemes  of  villainy  were  concocted  and  executed  there,  and 
with  perfect  impunity,  too.  For  Turtle  had  the  ear  of  all 
the  magistrates,  and  was  in  with  all  the  gangs  that  made 
the  City  Hall  of  Chicago  the  worst  and  vilest  den  of  robbers 
that  encumbers  this  earth. 

What  cause  the  pessimist  has  for  his  boding  views  when 
in  cities  like  New  York,  Quaker  Philadelphia,  Chicago  and 
San  Francisco,  the  City  Halls,  those  centres  of  municipal 
life,  hold  and  are  ruled  by  the  worst  and  most  dangerous 
gangs  of  criminals  sheltered  by  any  roof  in  any  city! 

Alas!  that  the  centre  which  should  be  the  purest  stream 
within  the  city  should  be  a  foul  cesspool,  sending  out  poison- 
ous vapors  to  pollute  the  life  of  the  citizens! 

Universal  suffrage  in  our  great  centres  is  a  corrupt  tree 
and  its  fruits  must  needs  be  poisonous. 

Turtle  gave  his  friend  Foster  a  welcome  at  his  office  and 
at  once  enrolled  him  on  his  staflf,  but  virtually  made  him.  a 
member  of  the  firm.  So,  between  the  two  Police  Head- 
quarters thieves  and  the  two  English  ones,  they  had  a  com- 
bination indeed. 

Many  stories  Foster  told  me  during  the  years  of  our 
intercourse  that  were  novel  and  strange,  and  gave  me  a 
view  of  the  social  world  seldom  seen.    Here  is  a  specimen: 

One  day  a  countryman  appeared  at  Police  Headquarters 
in  Chicago  and  announced  that  he  had  been  robbed  of 
$20,000,  and  showed  how  his  coat  pocket  had  been  cut  open 
and  the  money  taken.  This,  he  explained,  had  been  done 
in  a  crowd.    It  was  a  strange  place  for  a  man  to  carry  so 


438  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

large  a  sum,  and,  still  stranger,  the  pocket  was  cut  on  the 
inside.  Of  course,  a  pickpocket  in  the  rare  event  of  cutting 
the  pocket  of  an  intended  victim  must  of  necessity'  cut  the 
pocket  from  the  outside.  The  countryman  had  fallen  at 
Headquarters  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  two  partners  of 
Turtle.  One  glance  at  the  pocket  showed  them  there  was  a 
colored  gentleman  in  the  woodpile,  and  as  there  was  $20,000 
in  the  deal  somewhere,  they  determined  to  have  some  share 
of  it.  They,  of  course,  pretended  to  believe  the  story  of  the 
countryman,  but  for  fear  some  of  the  other  Headquarters 
men  might  hear  and  want  a  share,  they  hurried  him  away 
from  the  office  over  to  the  Sherman  House;  then  one  went 
to  Turtle's  office  and  posted  him  on  the  situation.  The 
countryman  was  anxious  to  leave  town,  but  on  various  pre- 
tenses they  held  him  for  two  days,  but  as  he  stoutly  affirmed 
that  the  k>st  money  was  his  own  they  were  puzzled  to  solve 
the  myster\' ;  but  their  knowledge  of  human  nature  was  such 
that  they  felt  certain  that  if  they  could  only  arrive  at  the 
bottom  the  old  gentlem.an  would  not  be  quite  as  white 
as  he  pretended  to  be.  He  came  from  an  obscure  mountain 
town  in  East  Tennessee,  and  while  they  fancied  a  trip  there 
might  solve  matters  they  feared  to  lose  their  victim — for 
victim  these  human  tigers  determined  the  countryman 
should  be.  The  second  day  they  resolved  on  decisive  meas- 
ures to  get  at  the  truth,  and  at  the  same  time  secure  some 
plunder,  provided  the  Tennesseean  had  any  cash. 

So  far  Turtle  and  Foster  had  not  been  seen  by  the  victim. 
The  detectives  asked  the  countryman  to  remain  one  more 
night  to  see  if  they  could  not  catch  the  men  who  had  robbed 
him.  That  afternoon  one  of  Turtle's  staff  secured  a  room 
at  the  same  hotel,  and,  seizing  an  opportunity,  slipped  into 
the  countryman's  chamber  and  concealed  some  burglar  tools 
under  the  mattress  of  his  bed  and  in  his  carpet  bag.  This 
once  done,  they  marched  the  "guy"  along  Clark  street,  and, 
as  arranged,  Turtle  and  one  of  his  staff  met  them,  and 


VTA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  489 

shaking-  hands  with  the  two  detectives  asked  if  they  were 
arresting  their  companion  for  a  job.  Upon  their  saying 
he  was  a  wealthy  gentleman  from  the  South,  Turtle  burst 
out  laughing,  and  said  he  knew  him  for  an  old-time  burglar, 
and  if  they  would  search  his  house  they  would  find  stolen 
goods,  and  ended  by  saying,  "Bring  him  down  to  my  office 
and  I  will  show  you  his  picture."  The  detectives  now 
changed  their  tones  and  threatened  to  arrest  him.  He  hav- 
ing, as  the  sequel  will  show,  a  bad  conscience,  became  fright- 
ened. Then  they  arrested  him,  and  announced  that  they 
were  going  to  search  his  room  at  the  hotel.  This  they  did, 
taking  him  along.  Of  course,  they  found  what  they  had 
previously  hidden,  very  much  to  the  terror  of  the  country- 
man, who,  lashed  by  a  bad  conscience,  began  to  think  he 
was  in  a  fix.  The  friends  of  the  hour  before  now  became 
threatening  bullies,  promising  to  get  him  ten  years  for  the 
possession  of  burglar  tools.  They  took  him  to  Turtle's 
office,  and  there  stripping  him  they  found  to  their  disap- 
pointment that  he  had  no  money,  but  found  carefully  folded 
up  in  an  inner  pocket  a  postoffice  receipt  for  a  registered 
letter  sent  from  Nashville  to  St.  Paul.  They  kept  him  a 
prisoner  that  night  while  Turtle  left  by  the  first  train  for  St 
Paul  with  the  receipt  in  his  pocket.  The  next  morning  found 
him  in  St.  Paul,  and  a  few  minutes  later  he  walked  out  of 
the  office  with  the  registered  letter,  which  proved  to  be  a 
bulky  one.  Tearing  it  open  he  found  it  full  of  United  States 
bonds  and  greenbacks,  amounting  in  all  to  $20,000.  The 
next  day  all  save  $1,000,  reserved  for  the  victim,  was  divided 
among  the  four  birds  of  prey.  That  day  the  victim  was  taken 
before  a  friendly  magistrate  and  fully  committed  to  await  in 
jail  the  action  of  the  Grand  Jury.  Twenty-four  hours  later 
a  tool  called  on  him  at  the  jail,  and  gave  him  the  option  of 
taking  $1,000  and  getting  out  of  town  by  the  first  train  or 
getting  ten  years  for  the  possession  of  burglar  tools.  The 
poor  fool,  with  trembling  eagerness,  accepted  the  first  part 


440  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

of  the  ultimatum,  and  within  an  hour  a  bail  bond  was  filled 
up,  and  darkness  found  the  baffled  old  man  speeding  west- 
ward, never  again  to  look  on  his  own  people. 

But  how  was  he  a  baffled  old  man?  He  had  embarked 
in  a  scheme  of  villainy,  but  had  been  beaten  at  his  own  game 
by  sharper  rascals.  From  whom  did  he  steal  the  money? 
Read: 

In  a  small  Tennessee  town  there  lived  a  widow  whose 
husband  had  been  killed  in  the  Confederate  army  and  who 
found  herself,  like  so  many  more  Southern  ladies  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  impoverished,  and  with  a  family  of  children 
to  be  provided  with  bread.  But  it  seems  she  was  a  brave 
body,  and  with  a  head  for  business.  She  opened  a  small 
hotel  in  Nashville,  and  by  reason  of  her  history,  no  less  than 
her  excellent  hostelry,  she  thrived  apace,  and,  investing  all 
her  savings  in  newly  started  industrial  enterprises  in  Nash- 
ville, her  small  investments  brought  in  large  returns,  which 
were  reinvested,  until  at  40,  finding  herself  mistress  of  a 
competency,  she  quit  business  and  went  to  spend  the  re- 
mainder of  her  days  where  she  was  born.  The  hero  of  the 
adventure  in  Chicago  was  not  only  her  neighbor,  but  had 
been  the  comrade  of  her  husband  through  the  deadly  fights 
of  the  war.  She  naturally  turned  to  him  as  a  friend  for 
advice.  He  first  asked  her  to  be  his  wife,  and  upon  her 
refusal  he  began  to  urge  her  to  dispose  of  all  her  interests 
in  Nashville  and  reinvest  her  money  in  the  nearby  city  of 
Knoxville.  At  last  she  consented,  and  sent  him  to  Nash- 
ville with  authority  to  act  as  her  agent.  He  disposed  of  her 
property,  except  the  old  hotel.  He  was  paid  $20,000  on 
her  account,  and  once  with  the  money  in  his  possession  he 
determined  to  keep  it.  It  was  a  cowardly  deed,  and  dearly 
did  he  pay  for  it.  He  wrote  her  he  was  going  to  Chicago, 
and  would  take  the  money  with  him,  as  he  would  only  remain 
for  a  day.  To  Chicago  he  came,  and,  as  related,  robbed  him- 
self, sending  off  the  money  in  a  registered  letter  to  himself. 


'I     RESOLVED     TO     LEAVE   A   MESSAGE   OP  HOPE    AND   HIGH 
RESOLVE." 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  44J 

Then  he  appeared  at  Police  Headquarters  with  his  cut  pocket 
and  clumsy  story,  which  appeared  in  the  next  morning's 
paper.  He  sent  a  marked  copy  of  the  paper  to  the  lady,  and 
at  the  same  time  wrote  a  hypocritical  letter  stating  that  he 
was  so  heartbroken  over  losing  her  money  that  he  did  not 
have  the  courage  to  look  her  in  the  face,  and  never  should 
until  such  time  as  he  could  repay  the  money.  He  said  he 
was  going  to  California  to  work,  and  when  he  had  enough 
she  would  see  him  again,  but  not  before. 

How  easy  it  is  for  a  man  to  become  an  unspeakable 
villain,  and  how  nicely  this  one  was  hoisted  with  his  own 
petard ! 

Eventually  this  catastrophe  proved  a  blessing  to  the 
widow.  It  drove  her  back  to  her  hotel  again,  and  soon  aftef 
she  became  the  wife  of  one  of  the  bravest  and  best  men 
Tennessee  ever  produced.  I  was  so  interested  in  the  fate 
of  this  lady  that  when  in  Nashville  in  1893  I  tried  to  hunt 
her  up.  I  found  several  who  knew  the  whole  story,  and 
from  them  I  heard  her  after  history  and  a  full  confirmatioi* 
of  Foster's  narrative. 

Foster  remained  four  years  in  Chicago  and  flourished 
He  and  Turtle  became  very  influential  in  politics  and  part' 
ners  in  a  combine  of  rascally  Aldermen  and  police  magis- 
trates that  robbed  the  city  and  the  citizens  with  impunity 
But,  unluckily  for  him,  he  one  day  took  it  into  his  head  to 
pay  a  visit  to  his  old  haunts  in  England,  there  to  display  his 
diamonds  and  bank  roll  to  such  of  his  former  cronies  as 
happened  to  be  at  liberty.  On  arriving  in  London  he  began 
to  play  the  role  of  a  rich  American,  but  was  recognized  by 
the  police,  an  old  charge  raked  up  against  him,  arrested, 
promptly  placed  on  trial,  found  guilty  and  sentenced  to  ter> 
years'  imprisonment  Although  the  possessor  of  consider- 
able property,  he  is  to-day  toiling  at  Chatham  like  a  slave, 
and  probably  if  he  lives  he  will  come  out  a  broken  man; 
It  is  a  certainty  that  the  very  day  he  is  liberated  he  wiW 


442 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


"go  to  sea,"  being  sent  by  a  prisoners'  aid  society,  and  a 
few  days  later  become  an  ornament  to  that  good  city  of 
Chicago.  Once  there,  his  ambition  will  not  be  satisfied 
until  he  takes  his  seat  as  Alderman,  becoming  one  of  the 
City  Fathers.  Many  more  immoral  and  dangerous  than  he 
write  Alderman  after  their  names  in  that  windy  city. 


BIDWELL    PICKINa    OAKUM 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 

A  BATTERED  HULK  STRANDED  ON  A  SHORE  TO  WHICH 
NO  TIDE  RETURNS. 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  during  the  almost  lifetime  I  passed 
at  Chatham  there  were  only  a  scant  half  dozen  Americans  who 
came  down  to  keep  me  company.  One,  Stoneman  by  name, 
interested  me.  He  was  a  man  of  great  nerve  and  quick 
apprehension,  and  very  truchful,  therefore  I  found  his  stories 
of  his  adventures  most  interesting,  besides  the  fact  that  his 
history  was  another  proof  of  the  truth  that  wrongdoing 
never  pays.  Stoneman  was  of  good  parentage,  and  had 
entered  the  army  in  1861,  making  a  good  record  up  to  and 
including  the  battle  of  Gettysburg.  There,  owing  to  a 
quarrel  with  his  captain,  he  deserted,  and  became  a  bounty 
jumper,  making  a  large  amount  of  money,  but  when  the 
war  ended,  finding  his  occupation  gone,  he  entered  upon  a 
life  of  crime,  starting  out  first  as  a  very  successful  express 
robber.  The  last  robbery  he  engaged  in  in  that  line  was 
on  the  New  Haven  road  near  Norwalk.  His  share  amounted 
to  some  thousands,  but  he  was  literally  bowled  out,  and  by 
a  singular  circumstance.  One  of  his  confederates  by  the 
name  of  Riley  had  been  arrested,  and  was  confined  at  Nor- 
walk. He  engaged  as  counsel  for  his  chum  a  well-known 
criminal  lawyer  of  New  York  by  the  name  of  Stuart,  and 
arranged  with  him  to  go  up  to  Nonvalk  to  see  Riley  the 
following  day.  Although  Stoneman  had  plenty  of  money, 
he  told  Stuart  he  had  none,  but  Riley  had.    Then  he  gave 

(443) 


444  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Riley's  wife  $2,500,  and  told  her  to  be  present  at  the  inter- 
view between  the  lawyer  and  her  husband.  At  the  inter- 
view Riley  told  him  he  would  give  him,  $2,500  if  he  cleared 
him  or  $1,000  if  he  got  him  off  with  a  sentence  of  two  years 
or  less.  Stuart  was  hungry  as  a  shark  to  finger  the  money, 
and  writing  out  a  receipt  for  the  full  amount  inserted  the 
conditions  agreed  upon.  Putting  the  money  in  his  pocket 
he  started  back  to  New  York  with  Mrs.  Riley.  Stoneman 
was  on  the  train  waiting  for  them,  and  as  soon  as  they 
started  he  joined  them.  It  happened  the  train  was  crowded, 
and  they  had  to  stand.  It  seems  some  pickpocket  saw  Stuart 
pull  out  the  money,  and  determined  to  get  it  from  him.  On 
the  arrival  of  the  train  in  New  York  he  succeeded  in  doing 
so.  Stoneman  had  hurried  out  of  the  station,  and,  of  course, 
knew  nothing  of  the  loss.  So  soon  as  Stuart  discovered 
his  loss  he  blamed  him  for  it,  and,  being  in  a  fury,  he  flew 
to  Police  Headquarters,  secured  the  services  of  a  friendly 
detective,  and,  going  to  the  hotel  that  he  knew  Stoneman 
frequented,  had  him  arrested  on  a  charge  of  robbing  him. 
The  end  of  it  all  was  that  Stuart  and  the  detectives  got  all 
his  money,  and  then,  knowing  him  to  be  a  daring  man,  one 
that  would  neither  forget  nor  fear  to  avenge  his  wrong,  to 
get  him  out  of  the  way  they  betrayed  him  to  the  Connecticut 
police  as  one  of  the  express  robbers.  He  was  sent  to  Nor- 
walk  to  stand  his  trial,  was  convicted  and  sentenced  to  five 
years,  and  sent  to  Weathersfield.  Being  a  good  mechanic,  he 
was  put  in  the  blacksmith  shop,  and  there,  with  an  eye  to 
the  future,  he  did  what  is  frequently  done  by  professional 
gentlemen  in  our  prisons,  made  a  complete  and  most  finely 
tempered  set  of  burglar  tools.  They  were  too  bulky  to  be 
smuggled  out  by  friendly  warders,  so  he  secreted  them  in 
the  shop  where  he  worked  and  ruled.  Many  of  the  prisoners 
in  Weathersfield  are  expert  workmen,  and  from  the  machine 
shops  there  a  high  class  of  work  is  turned  out.  Among 
other  workshops,  there  is  one  for  the  manufacture  of  silver- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  445 

plated  ware.  Stonenian  had  made  chums  with  one  of  the 
prisoners  who  held  a  confidential  position  in  the  silverware 
manufactory.  As  Stoneman's  sentence  was  the  first  to  ex- 
pire, he  gave  him  points,  and  it  was  plotted  between  them 
that  the  prison  itself  should  be  burglarized  by  Stoneman 
on  a  certain  night  after  his  release.  The  confidential  man 
was  to  leave  the  way  clear  to  the  safe  where  the  silver  bars 
used  in  the  business  were  stored.  He  in  due  time  was  lib- 
erated, with  the  customary  injunctions  from  the  warden 
and  officers  "not  to  come  back  any  more."  He  did  come 
back,  but  in  a  way  entirely  unanticipated  by  them. 

He,  of  course,  knew  the  whole  routine  of  the  place,  the 
stations  of  the  guards,  and  that  the  wall  after  8  p.  m.  was 
left  entirely  unguarded.  The  second  night  after  his  libera- 
tion found  him  beneath  the  wall  with  no  other  implements 
than  a  light  ladder  of  the  right  height.  In  a  minute  he  was 
on  top,  had  pulled  his  ladder  up  and  lowered  it  inside. 

Once  inside,  every  inch  of  the  place  was  familiar  to  him, 
and  he  had  a  clear  field.  The  shops,  although  inside  of 
the  boundar}^  walls,  were  quite  separate  from  the  main 
building,  where  the  men,  closely  guarded,  were  confined. 
He  entered  the  familiar  room  where  he  so  long  had  worked, 
and  easily  placed  his  hands  on  his  (to  him)  precious  kit  of 
tools,  and  carried  his  jimmies,  wedges,  sledges,  bits,  braces, 
drills,  etc.,  to  the  wall,  and  then  landed  them  safe  outside. 
Then  he  returned  and  entered  the  room  where  the  plunder 
he  sought  lay.  Thanks  to  his  friend,  the  way  was  easy,  and 
his  art  was  not  required  to  secure  it.  There  were  600 
ounces  in  silver  bars,  a  pretty  good  load  in  avoirdupois,  but 
he  only  made  one  journey  of  it,  mounted  the  wall  and 
speedily  was  over. 

Stoneman  was  a  long-headed  fellow.  He  had  taken,  with- 
out the  owner's  leave,  one  of  the  many  boats  on  the  banks  of 
the  near-by  river.  He  carried  his  plunder  and  tools  down 
to  the  boat,  and  pulled  across  the  river,  two  miles  down,  to 


446  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 

where  quite  a  stream  empties  into  the  Connecticut.  He 
pulled  some  distance  up  it;  then  putting  everything  into 
bags  he  sank  them  in  the  creek.  Then  drifting  back  into  the 
Connecticut  River  again  he  threw  his  ladder  over  and 
turned  the  boat  adrift.  At  7  o'clock  the  next  morning'  he 
was  in  New  York. 

In  due  time,  in  the  idiom  of  the  professionals,  he  "raised 
his  plant,"  and  the  burglar's  kit  manufactured  in  the  Con- 
necticut State  Prison  did  what  Stoneman  considered  yeoman 
service.  With  all  his  art  and  cunning,  justice  would  not 
be  cajoled  by  him,  but  weighed  him  in  her  balance,  to  a 
good  purpose  too.  His  success  in  his  particular  line  was 
great,  but  he  paid  dearly  for  it  all.  Many  times  he  escaped 
detection,  but  not  always.  Not  to  escape,  but  to  be  brought 
to  the  bar,  means  a  fearful  gap  in  the  life  of  a  criminal. 
He  was,  as  I  say,  famous  in  certain  circles  for  his  success 
in  his  lawless  course,  yet  in  the  twenty  years  between  1865 
and  1886  he  passed  sixteen  years  ih  captivity.  In  that  year 
he  went  to  England  with  a  confederate,  and  a  few  hours 
later  in  London  they  snatched  a  parcel  of  money  from  a 
bank  messenger  in  Lombard  street.  Both  were  caught  in 
the  act,  and  sentenced  at  the  Old  Bailey  to  twenty  years 
each.  To-day  Stoneman  is  toiling  under  brutal  task- 
masters, and  it  is  all  but  certain  he  will  perish  at  his  task, 
friendless,  alone,  unpitied.  Better  so  even,  for  should  he 
ever  be  freed  it  will  not  be  until  the  twentieth  century  is 
well  on  its  way  to  the  have  beens  of  time,  then  only  to  find 
himself  a  battered  hulk  stranded  on  a  shore  from  which  the 
tide  has  ebbed  forever.  »- 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

I  FIND  THE  FENIANS  WITH  ME  IN  THE  TOILS. 

I  had,  of  course,  for  many  years  heard  much  of  the 
Fenian  prisoners  in  the  English  prisons,  particularly  Ser- 
geant IMcCarty  and  William  O'Brien.  Soon  after  m^y  arrival 
at  Chatham  I  was  placed  in  the  same  party  with  them.  We 
were  all  three  strongly  dra\vn  together,  but  were  shy  of  being 
the  first  to  speak.  Of  course,  it  was  strictly  against  the 
rules  to  talk,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  prisoners  find  many 
opportunities  for  talking,  particularly  if  they  do  their  work. 
The  officers  are  reported  and  fined  if  their  men  fall  behind 
in  their  task,  so  if  a  man  is  any  way  backward  in  working 
the  officer  keeps  his  weather  eye  open,  and  reports  him  for 
any  infraction  of  the  rules. 

One  day,  soon  after  they  were  put  in  my  party,  I  gave 
O'Brien  a  hand  in  fixing  his  run.  We  spoke  a  few  words. 
The  ice  was  broken;  we  soon  became  fast  friends,  and  our 
friendship  remained  unbroken  until  their  happy  release 
some  years  after.  They  were  fine,  manly  fellows,  and  I  in 
time  came  to  have  a  warm  affection  for  them. 

McCarty  had  for  nearly  twenty  years  been  a  sergeant  in 
the  English  army.  He  had  come  out  of  the  Indian  mutiny 
with  a  splendid  record,  and  had  been  recommended  for  a 
commission.  But  while  wearing  the  British  uniform,  his 
heart  was  warm  for  Ireland  and  her  cause,  so  when,  in  1867, 
his  battery  being  then  stationed  in  Dublin,  he  was  informed 
many  devoted  adherents  to  the  Fenian  cause  had  determined 

(447) 


448  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

to  try  and  seize  Dublin,  with  a  view  of  starting  a  wide  revolt 
against  English  domination,  perilous  as  it  was,  he  cast  his 
lot  in  with  them,  and  speedily  found  sufficient  adherents 
in  his  own  field  battery  to  seize  it  and  bring  it  into  action 
Against  the  English.  The  plan  miscarried.  Sergeant  Mc- 
Carty,  along  with  many  others,  was  arrested  and  tried  for 
treason;  as  a  matter  of  course  was  speedily  convicted,  and 
sentenced  to  be  hanged,  drawn  and  quartered.  This  sen- 
tence was  commuted  to  penal  servitude  for  life. 

O'Brien  was  an  enthusiastic  youngster  of  17,  and  an 
ardent  patriot.  He  had  enlisted  in  a  regiment  then  stationed 
in  Ireland  for  no  other  reason  than  to  familiarize  himself  in 
military  afifairs,  also  to  win  over  recruits  to  the  Fenian 
cause,  and  when  the  revolt  began  to  be  in  a  position  to  seize 
Arms.  The  result  of  it  all,  so  far  as  my  two  friends  were 
concerned — ^they  found  themselves  by  my  side  in  the  great 
Chatham  ship  basin  loadimg  trucks  with  mud  and  clay,  and 
chat  upon  a  diet  of  black  bread  and  potatoes.  The  cars,  or 
trucks,  held  four  tons,  there  were  three  men  to  a  truck,  and 
the  task  was  nineteen  trucks  a  day,  and  between  the  urging 
t>i  officers,  frightened  themselves  for  fear  the  task  might 
/lot  be  done,  and  the  mud  and  starvation,  it  was  despairing 
work. 

The  punishments  were  not  only  severe,  but  were  dealt 
^>ut  with  a  liberal  hand.  The  men,  as  a  i;yle,  were  willing  to 
work,  but  between  weakness,  brought  on  by  perpetual  hun- 
ger, and  the  misery  of  the  incessant  bullying  of  the  officers, 
6ome  few  suicided  every  year,  but  many  more  did  worse  to 
themselves;  that  is,  the  poor  fellows,  seeing  nothing  but 
miser}--  before  them,  would  when  the  trucks  were  being 
shifted  on  the  rail  deliberately  thrust  an  arm  or  leg  under 
the  wheels  and  have  it  taken  off.  No  less  than  twenty-two 
did  this  in  1874.  Of  course,  the  object  was  to  get  out  of  the 
mud.  When  once  a  man's  leg  or  arm  was  off  he  would  no 
longer  be  able  to  handle  a  shovel,  and  would  necessarily  be 


WEIGHING    OFFICE,    BANK    OF   ENGLANP. 


VIA  TPIE   PRIMROSE   WAY.  451 

placed  in  an  inside  or  cripples'  party  and  set  to  work  picking 
oakum  or  breaking  stones,  with  the  result  that,  being  free 
from  severe  toil  and  sheltered  from  the  storms,  they  would 
not  be  so  hungry.  Then,  again,  they  could  more  easily 
escape  being  reported,  and  that  meant  much. 

There  was  never  anytliing  but  black  bread  for  breakfast 
and  supper,  save  only  one  pint  of  gruel  with  the  bread  for 
breakfast.  For  dinner  every  day  we  got  a  pound  of  boiled 
potatoes  and  five  ounces  of  black  bread;  three  days  a  week 
five  ounces  of  meat — ^that  is,  fifteen  ounces  a  week  for  a 
man  toiling  hard  in  the  keen  sea  air.  We  were  always  on  the 
verge  of  starvation;  our  suflferings  were  terrible.  In  our 
hunger  there  was  no  vile  refuse  we  would  not  devour  greedily 
if  opportunity  occurrred. 

O'Brien  was  a  slight,  delicate  fellow,  quite  unfitted  for  the 
hardships  and  toil  he  was  subjected  to,  but  he  was  a  high- 
spirited,  brave  youngster,  and  his  spirit  carried  him  through, 
while  many  a  man  better  fitted  physically  to  endure  the!  toil 
gave  in  and  died,  or  became  utterly  broken  down,  and  would 
be  sent  away  to  an  invalid  station  a  physical  wreck.  Mc- 
Carty  and  I  used  to  do  extra  work  so  as  to  shield  O'Brien, 
and  so  long  as  our  trucks  were  filled  on  time  the  officer 
made  no  complaint.  The  prisoners  were  certainly  very  good 
to  each  other,  and  usually  did  all  in  their  power  to  help  and 
cheer  up  the  weaker  men. 

In  1877  my  two  friends  were  liberated.  I  was  glad  to  see 
them  go,  but  I  missed  them  sadly.  But  McCarty  had  suf- 
fered too  much.  He  only  survived  his  liberation  a  few  days, 
dying  in  Dublin,  to  the  grief  of  all  Ireland.  O'Brien  started 
a  tobacco  store  in  Dublin,  where  he  still  is. 

I  knew  all  of  the  dynamiters — Curtin,  Daily,  Dr.  Gallagher, 
Eagan,  etc.  However  misguided,  yet  they  meant  to  serve  their 
country,  and  dearly  have  they  paid  for  their  zeal.  I  pitied 
poor  Gallagher.  The  strain  on  his  spirit  was  too  great.  He 
soon  broke  down,  and  his  dejected,  forlorn  looks,  his  stoop- 
26. 


452 


PROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


ing  shoulders  and  listless  walk  made  me  and  all  think  his 
days  were  numbered;  but  he  had  immense  vitality  and  still 
lived  when  I  was  liberated;  but  he  was  truly  a  pitiable  object, 
and  if  he  is  ever  to  live  to  breathe  the  air  a  free  man  then 
his  friends  must  secure  a  speedy  release,  for  he  is  slowly 
sinking  into  his  grave. 


1 1 II I II I 


BETR08PECTI0NS. 


CHAPTER  XLV. 

IN  MOOD  AS  LONELY,  IN  PLIGHT  AS  DESPERATE  AS  HIS. 

I  have  related  how,  the  Sunday  after  my  sentence,  in  my 
despair  I  took  the  little  Bible  off  the  shelf.  The  other  books 
I  had  at  Chatham  besides  the  Bible  were  a  dictionary  and 
"The  Life  of  the  Prophet  Jeremiah."  Once,  soon  after  my 
arrival  in  Chatham,  I  took  the  Jeremiah  down  from  the 
shelf,  but  speedily  put  it  back  and  made  a  vow  never  to  take 
it  down  again ;  and  I  never  did.  It  remained  in  view  on  the 
little  shelf  for  nineteen  years,  while  I  sat  there  watching  it 
rot  away.  The  dictionary  is  a  good  book,  but  grows  tire- 
some at  times.  As  for  the  Bible,  there  is  no  discount  on  that. 
For  fourteen  years  I  was  a  careful  student  of  its  sacred  pages. 
Every  Sunday  of  that  fourteen  years,  from  12  o'clock  until  2, 
I  used  to  walk  the  stone  floor  of  my  cell  preaching  a  sermon 
with  no  audience  but  my  dictionary  and  "The  Life  of  the 
Prophet  Jeremiah."  I  at  first  began  my  Bible  studies  and 
my  sermons  as  a  means  to  occupy  nly  thoughts  and  keep 
my  mind  bright.  It  saved  my  life  and  reason.  I  need  hardly 
say  that  I  became  tolerably  familiar  with  the  book,  and  I 
had  the  great  advantage  of  studying  the  Bible  without  a 
commentary, 

I  thought  in  my  enthusiasm  I  should  never  tfre  of  the 
Bible,  but  after  ten  or  twelve  years  I  began  to  grow  weary 
of  it,  and  grew  very  hungry  for  other  mental  food.  I  wanted 
a  Shakespeare,  for  with  him  to  keep  me  company  I  could 
no  longer"  be  ini  the  desolation  of  solitude.    At  last  I  deter- 

(453) 


454  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

mined  to  get  my  friends  to  try  for  me.  I  had  learned  the 
Bible  almost  by  heart;  the  smallest  incidents  in  the  life  of 
the  Prophet  Jeremiah  were  much  more  familiar  to  me  than 
the  history  of  the  civil  war,  and  Anathoth  took  on  pro- 
portions which  made  it  as  real  as  New  York  and  far  more 
important.  The  desperate  efforts  I  had  made  to  keep  my- 
self from  falling  into  the  condition  of  so  many  I  had  seen 
drooping  to  idiocy  and  death  were,  I  felt,  successful,  and 
any  occupation  which  kept  alive  the  intellect  could  not  but 
be  beneficial.  I  was  hungry,  starving  for  mental  food. 
Never  had  books  appeared  so  attractive,  never  was  kingdom 
so  cheerfully  oflfered  for  a  horse  as  I  would  have  ofifered 
mine  for  an  octavo.  My  friends  had  written  for  me  to  the 
Government,  but  with  no  success.  At  last  they  had  inter- 
ested the  American  Minister  in  London,  who  promised  to 
write  to  the  Home  Secretary  for  me,  but  a  year  had  slipped 
by  and  I  had  heard  nothing- 
Jeremiah  continued  with  me,  and  it  seemed  he  was  to  re- 
main with  me  to  the  end.    But  a  change  was  coming. 

Can  I  ever  forget  the  day  it  happened!  Can  I  ever  cease 
to  remember  the  delight,  the  incredulity,  the  astonishment 
of  that  happy  day!  I  had  come  in  at  night  hungry,  cold, 
wet  and  miserable.  I  made  my  way  a  little  depressed  to  my 
cell.  As  I  was  about  to  step  across  the  threshold  I  saw  a 
book  lying  on  my  little  wooden  bed.  Amazed  and  aston- 
ished, I  hesitated  to  enter.  Small  as  such  a  circumstance 
appears,  the  very  sight  of  the  book  brought  on  a  weakness. 
I  feared  to  pick  it  up,  a  horrible  dread  seized  me  that  it 
might  be  a  new  Bible,  and  I  was  unwilling  to  risk  another 
disappointment.  The  footprint  on  the  sand  was  not  more 
suggestive* nor  more  awe-inspiring  to  Robinson  Crusoe  than 
the  appearance  of  that  book  was  to  me.  In  mood  as  lonely, 
in  plight  as  desperate  as  his,  there  lay  before  me  a  sight  as 
unlooked  for  and,  as  it  seemed,  as  full  of  meaning  as  the 
footprint  was  to  Robinson. 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  455 

At  last  I  pulled  myself  together,  determined  to  end  the 
suspense  and  know  what  was  before  me.  I  picked  up  the 
book,  and  who  can  understand  the  delight,  the  joy,  the 
rapture  even,  with  which  I  read  on  the  title  page,  "The  Works 
of  William  Shakespeare."  In  an  instanl  I  became  a  new 
man.  If  ever  one  human  being  felt  gratitude  to  another  I 
felt  it  at  that  moment  for  the  American  Minister.  To  him 
I  owed  it  that  henceforth  a  new  light  was  to  stream  through 
the  fluted  glass  of  my  window,  that  henceforth  a  new  world 
was  opened  up  for  me  to  live  in,  and  the  world  seemed 
lighter  to  me.  Many  a  month  and  year  afterward  my  cell 
was  filled  and  my  heart  cheered  by  the  multitude  of  friends 
the  divine  William  provided  for  me. 

About  the  time  I  received  my  Shakespeare  another  piece 
of  happy  fortune  befell  me.  A  smallpox  scare  was  existing 
outside,  and  all  hands  in  the  prison  were  ordered  to  be  vac- 
cinated. When  the  doctor  came  around  a  few  days  after- 
ward to  examine  the  efifects  of  the  operation  he  found  my 
arm  so  swollen  that  he  directed  me  to  be  taken  to  the  hos- 
pital. 

For  twenty-five  days  I  had  full  opportunity  to  learn,  what 
the  girl  in  Dickens'  "Little  Dorritt"  meant  when  she  called 
the  hospital  an  "  'eavenly"  place.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had 
ever  been  admitted,  and  the  change  from  the  horrible  mud 
hole  to  the  rest  and  comfort  of  a  cell  in  the  hospital  was 
indeed  almost  "  'eavenly."  With  nothing  to  do  but  to  read 
my  Shakespeare,  the  cravings  of  hunger  for  the  first  time 
since  my  imprisonment  satisfied,  I  was  tempted  to  believe — 
I  did  partly  believe — ^that  the  world  had  few  positions  pleas- 
anter  than  mine. 

Godliness  with  contentment  is  undoubtedly  great  gain. 
Contentment  alone  without  the  godliness  is  no  poor  thing, 
and  was  I  not  content?  Few,  indeed,  of  all  the  thousands 
who  have  toiled  in  that  torturing  prison  house  have  ever 
been  or  are  likely  ever  to  be  so  content  as  I  was. 


456  FROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

How  true  it  is  that  happiness  is  altogether  relative,  and 
that  it  is  divided  much  more  evenly  among  men  than  we  are 
willing  to  believe!  A  mere  respite  from  an  intolerable  posi- 
tion, a  single  book  to  keep  the  mind  from  cracking,  trans- 
formed gloom  and  misery  into  light  and  at  least  comparative 
happiness. 

After  a  time  I  began  to  watch  the  effects  of  the  unnatural 
life  upon  others.  They  arrived  full  of  resolution,  buoyed 
often  by  hopes  which  they  were  soon  destined  to  find  de- 
lusive. The  short-time  men,  those  with  seven  or  ten  year 
sentences,  could  face  the  prospect  hopefully.  To  them  the 
day  would  come  when  the  prison  gate  must  swing  back  and 
the  path  to  the  world  be  open  once  more.  But  no  such  hope 
cheers  the  long- timers,  the  men  with  twenty  years  and  life, 
who  quickly  learn  how  great  the  proportion  is  of  their  num- 
ber who  find  relief  only  in  the  box  smeared  with  black  which 
incloses  what  is  left  of  them  in  the  grave.  Every  day  I  used 
to  see  the  effects  on  them  of  hunger  and  torment  of  mind. 
The  first  part  visibly  affected  was  the  neck.  The  flesh  shrinks, 
disappears  and  leaves  what  look  like  two  artificial  props 
to  support  the  head.  As  time  wears  on  the  erect  posture 
grows  bent;  instead  of  standing  up  straight  the  knees  bulge 
outward  as  though  unable  to  support  the  body's  weight,  and 
the  man  drags  himself  along  in  a  kind  of  despondent  shufffe. 
Another  year  or  two  and  his  shoulders  are  bent  forward. 
He  carries  his  arms  habitually  before  him  now,  he  has  grown 
moody,  seldom  speaks  to  any  one,  nor  answers  if  spoken  to. 
In  the  general  deterioration  of  the  body  the  mind  keeps 
equal  step;  and  so  unfailing  is  the  effect  that  even  warders 
wait  to  see  it,  and  remark  to  each  other  that  so  and  so  is 
"going  off."  When  the  sufferer  begins  to  carry  his  arms  in 
front  every  one  understands  that  the  end  is  coming.  The 
projecting  head,  the  sunken  eye,  the  fixed,  expressionless 
features  are  merely  the  outward  exponents  of  the  hopeless, 
sullen  brooding  within.     Sometimes  the  man  merely  keeps 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  457 

On  in  that  way,  wasting  more  and  more,  body  and  mind, 
every  day,  until  at  last  he  drops  and  is  carried  into  the  in- 
firmary to  come  out  no  more. 

Truly  I  was  looking  on  life  from  the  seamy  side. 

Before  my  own  experience  had  taught  me  I  used  to  think 
at  times  when  such  a  subject  ever  came  into  my  mind  at  all: 
"What  must  be  the  thoughts  and  anticipations  of  a  man 
condemned  to  separation  from  other  men,  to  lead  an  un- 
natural life  under  the  strained  and  artificial  conditions  of 
prison?"  The  change  is  so  violent,  it  comes  so  suddenly,  the 
unknown  possibilities  are  so  terrible,  the  sufferings  naturally 
implied  are  so  inevitable,  that  had  any  one  gifted  with  a 
knowledge  of  futurity  shown  me  that  such  experience  was 
to  be  mine  I  would  have  thought  it  utterly  impossible  that 
such  horrors  could  be  withstood  by  ordinary  strength. 

The  delights  of  pleasure  are  seldom  equal  to  the  anticipa- 
tion of  them,  and  it  is  probable  that  the  pain  of  suffering  is 
more  unbearable  in  the  shrinking  expectation  than  when 
aflfliction  actually  opens  her  furnace  door  and  commands  us 
to  enter.  Perhaps  there  is  a  compensation  of  some  kind 
in  nature,  a  provision  to  deaden  feeling  when  a  death  stroke 
falls — some  merciful  dispensation  by  which  we  fail  to  realize 
or  to  understand  in  its  exactness  the  meaning  of  the  stroke 
which  is  crushing  us. 

The  man  rescued  from  drowning  or  from  asphyxiation 
has  felt  no  pain.  The  animal  that  falls  beneath  the  rush  and 
the  murderous  claws  of  a  beast  of  prey  seems  to  fall  into  a 
torpor-like  indifference,  under  the  influence  of  which  he 
meets  with  no  great  suffering  the  death  his  captor  brings 
him.  Probably  all  great  suffering  comes  accompanied  with 
a  reserve  of  strength  or  with  a  power  of  resistance  which 
may  even  spring  from  weakness,  but  which  invests  the  suf- 
ferer with  courage,  and  perhaps,  too,  with  hope,  to  meet  it 


458 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


but  the  pitiless  application  of  a  discipline  designed  with  con- 
summate skill  to  find  out  all  the  weak  points  of  a  man's 
inner  armor  and  to  inflict  the  utmost  possible  suffering  upon 
him,  I  used  to  ask  myself  if  it  could  be  possible  that  I  was 
really  the  man  upon  whom  so  hideous  a  fate  had  fallen. 

The  blackness  of  darkness  was  round  about  me.  Infinite 
despair  stood  ready  to  seize  me.  It  seemed  an  amazement 
that  life  should  be  forced  to  remain,  with  him  who  longs  for 
death,  who  would  rejoice  exceedmgly  and  be  glad  could  he 
find  the  grave.  But  when  the  first  horrible  numbness  of 
the  shock  was  disappearing,  when  the  first  glimmering  per- 
ception came  to  me  that  "as  a  man's  day  so  shall  his  strength 
be,"  I  began  to  suspect,  and  soon  to  know,  that  in  many 
ways  the  reality  was  not  so  terrible  as  imagination  pictured  it 

However  ample  the  provision  be  which  men  may  make  to 
inflict  suffering  upon  other  men,  however  well  and  success- 
fully they  may  apply  the  provision^,  they  cannot  alter  men's 
nature.  That  will  assert  itself  under  all  circumstances.  The 
fact  that  a  man  is  restrained  of  his  liberty  by  no  means  alters 
his  nature.  The  things  he  liked  or  disliked  when  he  was 
at  liberty  he  will  like  or  dislike  when  a  prisoner,  and  he  is 
not  long  in  finding  that  "whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall 
he  also  reap"  is  just  as  certainly  true  of  the  seed  he  plants 
in  inclosed  ground  as  it  is  of  what  he  scatters  in  the  open 
field. 


CHAPTER   XLVI. 

IP    PAIN    IS    NOT    AN  EVIL,    IT    CERTAINLY  IS   A  VERT 
GOOD  IMITATION. 

The  world  inside  of  the  walls  has  a  public  opinion  of  its 
own,  and  it  is  at  least  quite  as  often  just  as  the  public  opinion 
whose  sphere  is  not  circumscribed  by  stone  walls  and  iron 
bars.  The  man  who  accepts  the  situation,  resolved  to  get 
his  hand  as  easily  as  possible  out  of  the  tiger's  mouth,  soon 
becomes  known  as  a  sensible  fellow,  willing  to  give  others  no 
trouble  and  anxious  to  have  no  trouble  given  him.  Such  a 
man  will  rarely  be  molested. 

Patient,  uncomplaining  endurance  always  excites  pity  and 
sympathy.  The  most  ignorant,  the  most  brutal  warder  will 
scarcely  oppress  the  man  who  goes  quietly  and  unresistingly 
along  the  thorny  road  stretched  out  before  him;  who,  not 
taking  the  thorns  for  roses,  is  not  disappointed  at  finding 
few  roses  among  the  thorns. 

Those,  however,  who  are  determined  to  see  the  rough 
side  of  prison  life  may  easily  do  so ;  the  appliances  are  there 
and  they  will  certainly  be  accommodated.  An  English  prison 
is  a  vast  machine  in  which  a  man  counts  for  just  nothing  at  all. 
He  is  to  the  establishment  what  a  bale  of  merchandise  is  to  a 
merchant's  warehouse.  The  prison  does  not  look  upon  him 
as  a  man  at  all.  He  is  merely  an  object  which  must  move  in 
a  certain  rut  and  occupy  a  certain  niche  provided  for  it 
There  is  no  room  for  the  smallest  sentiment.    The  vast  ma- 

(459) 


460  PROM  WALL,  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

chine  of  which  he  is  an  item  keeps  undisturbed  upon  its 
course. 

Move  with  it,  and  all  is  well.  Resist,  and  you  will  be 
crushed  as  inevitably  as  the  man  who  plants  himself  on  the 
railroad  track  when  the  express  is  coming,  Without  passion, 
without  prejudice,  but  also  without  pity  and  without  remorse, 
the  machine  crushes  and  passes  on.  The  dead  man  is  car- 
ried to  his  grave  and  in  ten  minutes  is  as  much  forgotten 
as  though  he  had  never  existed. 

The  plank  bed,  the  crank,  the  bread-and-water  diet,  un- 
authorized but  none  the  less  effectual  clubbing  at  the  hands 
of  warders,  the  cold  in  the  punishment  cells  penetrating  to 
the  very  marrow  of  the  bones,  weakness,  sickness  and  un- 
pitied  death  are  the  certain  portion  of  the  rebel. 

Some  are  found  idiotic  enough  to  invite  such  a  fate, 
though  fewer  now  than  formerly.  The  progress  of  education 
in  England  during  the  last  twenty  years,  and  the  philan- 
thropic efforts  of  many  societies  and  private  persons,  but 
above  all  the  covert  but  successful  efforts  of  the  authorities 
to  deport  them  to  this  country  instantly  after  their  release, 
have  had  an  immense  effect  in  thinning  the  ranks  of  prison 
inmates.  The  Judges,  too,  have  been  forced  by  public 
opinion  to  be  much  less  severe  than  they  used  to  be,  and 
that  counts  for  much  even  in  the  inside  of  prisons. 

Nothing  can  be  more  capricious  than  the  sentences  they 
pass.  In  very  few  cases  does  the  law  set  any  limit.  "Life 
or  any  term  not  less  than  five  years"  is  the  usual  reading  of 
the  statute  books,  and  the  consequence  naturally  is  that  one 
Judge  will  give  his  man  five  years,  while  another  will  con- 
demn his  to  twenty  years  for  precisely  the  same/  crime  com- 
mitted under  precisely  the  same  circumstances  as  the  first 
one. 

Another  great  blot  on  the  English  judicial  system  is  that 
no  court  of  appeal  exists  to  which  a  sentence  might  be  re- 
ferred for  review,  so  that  the  most  unjust  and  unequal  sen- 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  461 

tences  are  constantly  passed  from  which  there  is  no  appeal 
but  in  the  forlorn  hope — rather,  entire  hopelessness — of  a 
petition  to  the  Home  Secretary.  I  have  often  seen  a  man 
who  had  been  sentenced  to  five  years  for  murder  working 
by  the  side  of  another  whose  sentence  was  twenty  years  for 
some  crime  against  property.  Such  contrasts,  of  course,  ex- 
cite great  discontent,  and  in  some  cases  are  the  reason  why 
men  set  up  a  hopeless  resistance  to  what  they  feel  to  be 
persecution  and  injustice. 

It  always  seemed  to  me  that  the  standpoint  of  the  Board 
of  Directors,  established  in  1864,  and  which  continued  with- 
out change  until  ver)'^  recently,  was  altogether  wrong.  They 
appeared  to  think  that  in  their  dealings  with  other  men  the 
only  course  was  to  be  the  application  of  "force,  iron  force," 
as  one  of  the  governors  expressed  it.  The  very  great  ma- 
jority require  no  such  application,  and  the  few  difficult  ones 
could  easily  be  managed  in  another  way.  Certainly  it  is 
necessary  that  all  prison  discipline  be  penal,  but  it  is  not 
necessary  that  it  be  ferocious  and  inhuman,  as  certainly  is 
the  English.  Starvation,  the  crank,  the  plank  bed,  the  fear- 
ful cold  of  the  cells  are  not  measures  necessary  in  dealing 
with  any  man. 

Whatever  they  could  think  of  to  harden,  to  degrade,  to 
insult,  to  inflict  ever}-  form  of  suffering,  both  physical  and 
mental,  which  a  man  could  undergo  and  live,  was  embodied 
in  the  rules  they  made.  Their  prisons  were  to  be  places  of 
suffering  and  of  nothing  but  suffering. 

So  far  as  the  directors  were  concerned  the  regulations  were 
carried  out  to  the  letter,  but  each  prison  is  under  the  control 
of  a  resident  governor,  with  a  deputy  governor  to  assist  him. 
These  gentlemen  are  always  men  of  good  social  position, 
retired  officers  of  the  army,  who  have  seen  the  world  and 
have  experience  in  controlling  men.  They  are  rarely  inclined 
to  unnecessary  severity,  but  are  generally  willing  to  apply 
the  rules  vdth  as  much  consideration  as  such  rules  admit. 


462 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


The  governor's  discretion,  however,  is  Hmited,  but  daily  con- 
tact more  or  less  with  men  whom  he  sees  to  differ  very  little 
from  free  men,  and  whom  he  sometimes  finds  to  be  even 
better  than  many  he  knows  who  are  not,  but  who  perhaps 
ought  to  be,  on  the  wrong  side  of  the  bars,  makes  him  un- 
willing to  throw  too  many  sharp  points  on  the  path  which 
has  to  be  trodden  by  men  for  whom  he  often  cannot  help 
feeling  considerable  sympathy. 

I  have  more  than  once  heard  governors  express  their 
disapproval  of  the  starvation  system  and  of  the  ferocity  of 
treatment  toward  men  who  some  day  or  other  must  go  back 
to  society. 

Under  such  governors  the  new  arrival  speedily  finds  out 
that  to  a  certain  extent  his  comfort  depends  upon  himself. 
No  man  can  make  a  bad  thing  good  or  trick  himself  into 
believing  that  suffering  is  pleasure.  If  pain  be  not  an  evil,  it 
is  an  exceedingly  good  imitation,  and  the  wisest  philosopher 
is  just  as  restless  under  the  toothache  as  the  most  perfect 
idiot 


PENTONVILLE   PRISON. 


CHAPTER  XLVII. 

U18  ROW  BECOMES  PILLED  WITH  VERY  SHARP-EDGED 
STONES   INDEED. 

The  inhabitant  of  a  cell  has  a  very  rough  row  to  hoe 
under  any  circumstance,  and  it  has  to  be  hoed,  but  there  is  no 
necessity  for  him  to  fill  his  row  with  stones  and  to  plant 
roots  in  it  himself.  He  soon  finds  his  level,  and  the  im- 
pression he  makes  on  his  arrival  is  the  one  which,  as  a  rule, 
clings  to  him  to  the  end. 

When  prison  air  and  prison  influence  have  succeeded  in 
incasing  a  man  wth  the  sort  of  moral  hardbake  that  renders 
him  callous  to  those  feelings  which  at  first  so  gall  the  raw 
spots,  he  finds  himself  watching  with  curiosity  the  shapings 
of  newcomers.  Some  announce  immediately  on  arrival  that 
they  cannot  possibly  be  there  more  than  a  month  or  two; 
their  arrest  was  a  mistake,  and  their  uncle,  the  member  of 
Parliament,  is  now  busily  engaged  making  representations 
to  the  Home  Secretary.  One  of  the  very  few  amusements 
prisoners  have  is  in  watching  the  important  fellows,  the  men 
whose  friends  could  do  so  much  for  them  if  they  would  only 
let  them  know  where  they  are.  Sometimes  a  chap  who  has 
perhaps  been  a  body  serv^ant  or  something  of  the  kind,  who 
has  picked  up  the  kind  of  veneer  he  could  catch  by  aping 
his  master,  will  furnish  food  for  smiles  to  every  one  he  comes 
in  contact  with  during  his  stay.  He  never  receives  a  letter 
without  explaining  confidentially  to  every  one  that  another 
aunt  whose  favorite  he  was  has  just  died,  leaving  him  £10,000 

(463) 


46*  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE) 

in  cash,  not  to  speak  of  a  trifle  or  tw^o  in  the  shape  of  half  a 
dozen  houses.  These  gentlemen  are  immediately  furnished 
with  a  name  which  becomes  much  better  known  than  their 
own,  and  whenever  they  have  delivered  themselves  of  their 
periodical  brooding  of  lies  the  news  goes  smiling  round  that 
Billy  Treacle's  aunt  has  died  again  and  left  him  another 
fortune. 

So  long  as  their  inventions  do  no  more  harm  than  make 
them  ridiculous  they  are  only  laughed  at  and  let  alone,  but 
when  one  of  them  develops  a  talent  for  irjvention  which 
molests  or  injures  others,  especially  when  it  takes  the  form 
of  confidential  communication  to  the  governor  of  what  he 
sees,  and  still  more  of  what  he  does  not  see,  such  retribu- 
tion as  both  prisoners  and  officers  can  inflict  is  not  long  in 
falling.  His  row  becomes  filled  with  very  sharp-edged 
stones  indeed,  and  roots  which  tear  his  hands  painfully. 
Nearly  always  these  boastings  are  fathered  by  an  absurd 
vanity — a  desire  ever  to  appear  what  they  are  not,  and  while 
they  think  they  are  deceiving  others  they  deceive  no  one  but 
themselves. 

One  case  I  remember,  though,  was  an  exception.  One 
young  fellow  made  such  use  of  his  invention,  and  the  story 
is  so  interesting  and  instructive  as  showing  with  what  lofty 
respect  English  gentlemen  are  educated  for  the  rights  of 
property,  that  I  shall  relate  it. 

Four  or  five  years  after  I  went  to  Chatham  a  young 
fellow  named  Frederick  Barton  arrived  with  a  ten  years' 
sentence  for  forgery.  His  appearance  and  manners  were 
very  much  in  his  favor,  and  his  conduct  so  confirmed  the 
good  first  impression  that  he  speedily  became  a  favorite 
with  everybody  from  the  governor  down. 

Some  three  years  had  slipped  by  when  one  day  he  asked 
me  if  I  would  prepare  a  petition  which  he  might  send  to 
the  Home  Secretary  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  a  commutation 
of  sentence.     I  liked  the  youngster  very  well  and  readily 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  465 

consented,  but  told  him  that  I  doubted  very  much  if  he 
would  get  anything.  The  petition  was  sent,  and  in  a  few 
days  the  usual  answer  was  returned,  "No  grounds."  He 
told  me  of  his  ill  luck,  and  I  said  to  him:  "Look  here,  so 
long  as  you  send  up  whining  petitions  asking  for  mercy  both 
you  and  they  will  be  treated  with  contempt.  If  you  wish 
to  get  that  English  gentleman  in  the  Home  Office  to  do 
anything  for  you,  make  him  believe  you  are  a  millionaire; 
you  will  see  whether  he  will  do  anything  then  for  you  or 
not."  He  laughed  merrily  at  that.  "A  millionaire!  Why, 
I  haven't  a  sixpence.  My  father  is  only  a  private  coachman 
at  Tunbridge  Wells."  "That  is  nothing  at  all,"  I  said;  "if 
you  will  be  guided  by  me,  and  let  me  manage  things  for  you, 
I  will  have  a  petition  sent  in  for  you  from  the  outside,  and 
I  feel  sure  we  can  get  you  out."  An  idea  had  just  flashed 
into  my  mind,  and  I  was  eager  to  try  it. 

At  first  he  was  a  little  timid  about  the  venture,  fearing 
that  I  might  get  him  into  trouble,  but  when  he  became  con- 
vinced that  I  would  do  nothing  of  the  kind  he  consented. 
I  had  a  warder  in  the  prison  who  in  consideration  of  an 
occasional  tip  used  to  act  as  my  postman,  sending  my  letters 
to  my  friends  and  bringing  in  theirs  to  me.  This  was  a 
deadly  oflfense  against  the  rules,  but  as  the  permitted  corre- 
spondence was  outrageously,  limited  I  saw  no  reason  why  I 
should  deprive  myself  of  letters  when  I  had  the  chance  to 
have  them,  and  as  I  took  good  care  that  the  great  men  in 
London  should  get  no  inkling  of  my  misdeeds  I  dare  say 
their  hearts  did  not  grieve  after  what  their  eyes  did  not  see. 


CHAPTER  XLVIII. 

HE    TELEGRAPHED    THE    NEWS    TO    MT    WARDER,    AND 
BARTON  WENT   ON    HIS    WAY   REJOICING. 

My  warder  friend  supplied  me  with  writing  materials.  I 
prepared  one  letter,  which  I  had  him  copy,  and  another  in 
my  own  handwriting.  Both  were  directed  to  Barton,  and 
informed  him  that  his  rich  uncle  had  lately  died  and  had 
left  him  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  pounds  in 
money  and  sixteen  thousand  acres  of  cotton  land  in 
India.  He  was  also  informed  that  his  father  had  gone  to 
India  to  look  after  the  property,  and  that  upon  his 
return  a  petition  would  be  presented  to  the  Home  Secre- 
tary, who  it  was  hoped  would  grant  his  release.  These  two 
letters  my  warder  sent  to  a  friend  of  mine  in  London  with 
a  note  from  me  requesting  him  to  post  them  immediately.  I 
told  Barton  what  I  had  done,  at  the  same  time  cautioning 
him  to  guard  the  closest  secrecy.  Two,  days  afterward  the 
letters  arrived,  and  I  directed  my  protege  to  spread  the  news 
as  much  as  possible,  to  tell  all  the  warders  he  saw  and  to 
show  them  his  letters.  We  had  at  that  time  in  the  prison 
a  wideawake  but  tricky  fellow  named  George  Smith.  He 
had  been  clerk  to  an  important  firm  of  auctioneers  in  Lon- 
don, and  had  been  sentenced  by  probably  the  most  savage 
judge  on  the  bench,  Commissioner  Ker,  to  fourteen  years' 
imprisonment  for  receiving  a  quantity  of  stolen  silverware, 
which  he  had  his  employers  sell  for  him.  He  was  about  to 
be  released,  and  I  determined  to  m.ake  use  of  him,  but  with- 
(466) 


VI8IT0K8    AT    NEWGATE   STANDING    OVER    THE    BURYING-VAULT 
DOOB    LEADING    TO    THE    BLACK-MARIA. 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  469 

out  It^tting  him  know  the  truth,  for  I  knew  that  if  he  sus- 
pected he  was  merely  doing  a  good  turn  for  the  chum  he 
left  behind  him,  he,  like  the  Home  Secretary  himself,  without 
the  right  kind  of  inducement  would  have  left  his  friend  to 
stop  where  he  was  until  the  bottomless  pit  was  frozen  over 
hard  enough  to  hold  a  barbecue  on  it.  Barton,  by  my 
directions,  told  Smith  of  his  good  fortune,  and  that  he  hoped 
on  his  father's  return  to  be  liberated.  Smith  then  did  exactly 
what  I  expected  and  wanted  him  to  do.  He  said  there  was 
no  need  to  wait  until  then ;  he  was  going  to  be  released  in  a 
few  days,  and  "if  you  like  I  will  send  in  a  petition  for  you; 
it  can't  do  you  any  harm,  and  it  may  get  you  released  imme- 
diately." Barton  at  once  accepted  the  offer,  and  told  him 
that  if  successful  the  post  of  manager  on  the  Indian  estate 
would  be  at  his  disposal.  He  also  suggested  to  ask  me  to 
write  the  petition.  Smith  managed  to  see  me  in  the  course 
of  the  day,  and,  supposing  me  to  have  no  knowledge  of  the 
matter,  explained  the  situation  and  asked  me  to  write  the 
petition.  Needless  to  say,  I  promised  everything  a^ked  for, 
and  added  that  I  would  make  it  my  business  to  have  the 
petition  in  London  at  some  place  where  he  could  find  it  the 
day  of  his  discharge. 

The  petition  was  prepared,  setting  forth  all  the  interesting 
facts  for  the  edification  of  the  right  honorable  gentleman 
in  the  Home  Office,  and  after  being  submitted  to  Barton 
and  Smith,  sent  to  the  latter's  address  in  London. 

Millbank  is  a  gigantic  prison  in  the  heart  of  London  every 
one  of  the  thousand  cellls  of  which  cost  the  Government 
£500  to  build.  Tliis  is  the  establishment  where  David  Cop- 
perfield  visited  Mr.  Uriah  Heep  when  that  gentleman  was 
under  a  cloud,  and  heard  him  express  the  wish  that  "every- 
body might  get  'took  up'  so  that  they  could  learn  the  error 
of  their  ways."  For  many  years  all  London  men  whose 
sentences  had  expired  were  brought  here  for  release,  and 
here  Smith  came  a  few  days  after  the  petition  was  posted. 


470 


FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE. 


On  the  morning  of  his  discharge  and  within  an  hour  after 
passing  through  the  gates  of  Millbank  he  left  the  petition 
personally  at  the  Home  Office.  Two  days  afterward  one  of 
the  clerks  acknowledged  its  receipt,  accompanied  with  the 
gratifying  assurance  that  it  was  under  consideration.  A 
week  later  Mr.  Smith  was  notified  that  the  release  would  be 
granted.  He  immediately  telegraphed  the  news  to  my 
warder,  who  told  me,  and  I  told  Barton.  Two  days  more 
and  the  release  came  down.  Barton  went  on  his  way  rejoicing 
and  every  one  was  glad  at  his  happy  fortune.  Tlie  only  one 
who  felt  much  disappointment  was  \ery  likely  poor  Smith, 
who  never  heard  of  his  friend  again. 


SCHOOL    AND    A    TKADE,   OK    JAIL. 


CHAPTER  XLIX. 

I  FLUSTER  THE  GREAT  JUPITER  OF  MY  LITTLE  WORLD. 

The  successful  issue  of  this  little  enterprise  gave  me  great 
satisfaction.  There  was,  of  course,  notliing  in  it  for  me,  nor 
did  I  want  anything,  but  it  furnished  me  with  an  excellent 
standpoint  from  which  to  address  the  Home  Secretary  should 
the  occasion  ever  arise. 

The  occasion  did  arise  some  time  after,  and  I  utilized  it 
in  this  way :  A  friend  of  mine  had  come  over  from  America 
to  see  me  and  to  try  if  it  were  not  possible  to  obtain  some 
reduction  in  the  sentence.  My  postman  warder  was  away  at 
the  moment,  so  letter-carrier  facilities  were  cut  ofif.  I  wanted 
very  much  indeed  to  communicate  with  my  friend,  and 
applied  to  the  Home  Secretary  explaining  the  position  and 
asking  him  to  let  me  v/rite  two  letters  immediately.  At  the 
end  of  eight  weeks  an  answer  came  back  that  the  Home 
Secretary  had  carefully  considered  the  application  and  could 
find  no  sufficient  grounds  for  advising  Her  Majesty  to  grant 
the  prayer  thereof.  The  next  day  I  obtained  a  petition  sheet 
from  the  governor  and  wrote  the  following  petition : 

"To  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  William  V.  Harcourt,  Secretary  of 

State  for  the  Home  Department: 

"The  petition  of,  etc.,  humbly  showeth:  That  two  months 
ago  I  petitioned  the  Home  Secretary  for  permission  to  write 
two  letters,  explaining  the  urgency  of  the  occasion  and 
pointing  out  tha*-  the  request  was  by  no  means  unasual. 
Yesterday  the  answer  arrived  telling  me,  with  as  much  truth, 

(471) 


472  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

I  have  no  doubt,  as  kindness,  the  anxiety  with  which  the 
right  honorable  gentleman  has  been  for  eight  weeks  con- 
sidering the  petition. 

"I  hasten  to  express  to  the  Home  Secretary  the  regret  I 
cannot  but  feel  at  the  thought  of  causing  him  so  much  con- 
cern, which  I  sincerely  trust  has  had  no  prejudicial  eflfect 
upon  his  health.  I  regret  this  the  more  as  there  was  really 
no  necessity  for  requiring  eight  whole  weeks  of  his  time  to 
the  inevitable  great  neglect  of  the  public  business,  for  no 
man  who  owns  or  who  is  known  to  be  able  to  get  a  half 
sovereign  ever  has  the  slightest  difhculty  in  sending  out  as 
many  clandestine  letters  as  he  chooses.  Tliis,  of  course,  is 
an  infraction  of  the  rules,  and  any  reasonable  man  would 
rather  get  along  in  a  friendly  spirit  with  the  prison  author- 
ities than  be  at  war  with  them,  but  when  trifhng  favors  which 
it  requires  but  to  stretch  out  the  hand  to  take  are  refused, 
rules,  prison  authorities  and  the  Home  Secretary  himself 
are  contemptuously  set  aside  and  the  forbidden  favor  taken. 

"I  trust  that  this  knowledge  will  save  the  Home  Secretary 
any  repetition  of  the  anxiety  he  has  suffered  on  this  occasion, 
but  while  regretting  my  want  of  success  in  petitions  for  my- 
self I  desire  to  thank  the  right  honorable  gentleman  for  the 
kind  attention  he  pays  to  my  petitions  for  others. 

"The  Home  Secretary  will  perhaps  remember  his  merciful 
consideration  of  the  case  of  Mr.  Frederick  Barton,  whom 
he  released  some  short  time  ago,  but  it  will  perhaps  be  news 
to  him  to  hear  that  it  was  I  who  invented  Mr.  Barton's  for- 
tune and  wrote  the  petition  which  furnished  the  grounds 
for  advising  Her  Most  Gracious  Majesty  to  extend  her  royal 
clemency  to  the  deserving  young  man.  The  result  of  my 
petition  by  no  means  surprised  me,  for  I  was  always  con- 
fident that  an  English  gentleman  could  never  be  guilty  of 
the  solecism  against  English  customs  implied  by  keeping 
in  prison  a  young  gentleman  who  could  perform  so  mer- 
itorious an  act  as  to  fall  heir  to  many  bags  of  gold  and 
sixteen  thousand  acres  of  cotton  land  in  India. 

"Mr.  Barton  had  previously  petitioned  for  mercy  pointing 
out  that  he  was  but  17  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  arrest,  and 
asking  that  his  extreme  youth  might  plead  for  him.  This 
petition  the  Home  Secretary  treated  with  ver\'  proper  con- 
tempt, but  it  was  really  delightful  to  contrast  that  contempt 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT.  473 

with  the  respectful  and  instant  attention  shown  to  the  petition 
of  the  young  heir. 

"I  have  a  difficulty  in  expressing-  the  comfort  with  which 
I  saw  an  English  Home  Secretary,  with  all  the  power  of  the 
Empire  in  his  hands  to  protect  him  against  imposition,  re- 
leasing a  criminal  after  reading  a  sheet  of  foolscap  covered 
with  lies,  which  had  been  left  at  the  Home  Office  by  a 
released  convict  within  half  an  hour  after  passing  through 
the  gates  of  Millbank.  It  is  but  the  merest  justice,  however, 
to  add  that  poor  Mr.  Smith,  the  presenter  of  the  petition, 
was  as  badly  humbugged  as  the  Home  Secretary  himself. 
The  glitter  of  gold  was  flashed  before  his  eyes  as  it  was 
before  the  eyes  of  Sir  William  Vernon  Harcourt,  and  with 
equal  effect. 

"To  md  this  effect  was  certain,  as  not  the  slightest  doubt 
existed  in  my  mind  that  the  moment  it  became  a  question 
of  great  sums  of  money  all  distinctions  would  vanish  and 
pickpocket  and  Home  Secretary  would  scramble  on  to  the 
same  foothold. 

"The  result,  it  is  unnecessary  to  add,  perfectly  justified 
me.  As  I  watched  the  lucky  Frederick  set  out  to  return 
to  the  stable  he  came  from  it  occurred  to  me  that  had  he 
understood  German,  which  he  did  not,  nor  English  either, 
for  that  matter,  he  might  have  whispered  joyfully  to  himself, 
in  the  words  of  another  dealer  in  ways  that  are  dark  and 
tricks  which  are  vain: 

"'Es  ist  gar  hubsch  von  einem  grossen  Herm, 
So  menschlich  mit  dem  Teufel  selbst  zu  sprechen.* 

"Doubtless,  however,  the  Home  Secretary  will  feel,  as  I  do 
myself,  that  he  acted  in  this  matter  in  accordance  with  the 
commonest  dictates  of  duty,  and  I  beg  to  assure  him  that, 
having  ever}'  facility  for  sending  out  as  many  letters  as  I 
please,  I  shall  never  again  cause  him  weeks  of  anxious  con- 
sideration.   Respectfullv  submitted, 

"AUSTIN   BIDWELL." 

Whatever  Sir  William  Vernon  Harcourt  may  have 
thought  about  the  petition,  he  said  nothing,  but  I  dare  say 
he  did  not  feel  flattered.  It  required  no  small  daring  to 
send  it,  but  as  I  knew  I  had  nothing"  to  hope  from  him  I 


474  FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

could  look  with  perfect  equanimity  upon  any  consequences 
likely  to  follow. 

The  governor  of  the  prison  did  not  dare  to  violate  the 
regulations  by  refusing  to  send  my  petition,  written  as  it 
was  on  an  official  form  and  duly  entered  on  the  books  of 
the  establishment,  but  he  sent  for  me  in  hot  haste.  Assuming 
a  threatening  air,  he  demanded  how  I  dared  to  play  such 
monkey  tricks.  Officially  the  governor  was  a  hot  member  and 
enforced  an  iron  discipline  both  with  warders  and  the  men, 
but  personally  he  was  not  a  bad  fellow,  so  I  merely  laughed 
and  asked  him  if  he  was  a  critic  and  reviser  of  petitions; 
therefore,  a  local  Home  Secretary.  He  saw  I  was  not  to  be 
intimidated,  and  almost  begged  of  me  not  to  do  so  any  more. 
As  he  was  a  pretty  good  fellow,  and  I  had  no  wish  to  cause 
him  any  embarrassment,  I  readily  promised,  provided  I  was 
permitted  now  and  then  to  write  a  special  letter.  This  per- 
mission he  intimated  would  not  be  withheld,  and  there,  so 
far  as  the  governor  was  concerned,  the  incident  ended.  But 
so  unheard-of  a  document  emanating  from  a  prisoner  created 
a  sensation  among  the  officers,  who  all  came  to  know  of 
the  matter,  and  added  several  degrees  to  whatever  respect 
they  were  inclined  to  have  for  me. 

As  there  is  no  attempt  at  humor  in  this  book,  and  since 
I  am  on  the  subject  of  petitions,  I  will  give  here  a  copy  of 
one  sent  by  a  fellow  prisoner  who  was  somewhat  of  a  char- 
acter and  whose  name  was  Niblo  Clark. 

To  some  of  the  prisoners  the  art  of  reading  and  writing 
is  an  all  but  insoluble  mystery.  Ever}^  man  is  allowed  a 
small  slate,  and  many  of  the  prisoners  spend  an  incredible 
amount  of  painful  toil  and  mental  wrestling  in  preparing  a 
petition,  which,  by  the  way,  never  does  any  good.  Poor 
Niblo  for  a  whole  year,  through  all  the  Summer's  warmth 
and  Winter's  frost,  spent  his  spare  hours  producing  this  peti- 
tion, and  I  think  my  reader  will  agree  with  me  that  it  is  a 
masterpiece  of  its  kind 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT?. 


475 


Register  No.  Y  19. 
Present  Age,  40. 


PETITION. 

Name,  Niblo  Clark, 

Confined  in  Chatham  Prison. 
Date  of  Petition,  January  15,  1890. 


CONVICTED. 

CRIME. 

SENTENCE. 

RRMARKS. 

When. 
1880. 

Where. 

Old  Bailey, 

Liondon. 

Burglary. 

15  Tears. 

In  Hospital. 
Troublesome. 

To  the  Right  Honorable  Henry  Mathews,  Her  Majesty's 
Principal  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department; 
The  Petition  of  Niblo  Clark  Humbly  Sheweth — 
The  Right  Honorable  Secretary  the  great  benefit  your 
humble  petitioner  would  derive  by  a  speedy  removal  from 
this  damp  and  foggy  inhospitable  Climate  to  a  milder  one; 
the  atmostphere  here  his  thoroughly  prejudicial  to  your 
petitioners  health  and  causes  me  to  be  a  great  Sufferer  i  am 
Suffering  from  asthma  accompanied  with  bad  attacks  of 
Chronic  bronchitis  and  have  been  now  3  long  years  Con- 
fined to  a  bed  of  Sickness  in  a  Sad  and  pitable  Condition 
and  upon  those  Clear  grounds  and  physical  proofs  your 
petitioner  humbly  prays  that  it  may  please  the  Right  Honor- 
able Secretary  to  order  my  removal  to  a  warmer  andl  milder 
Climate 

necessity  also  compels  me  to  complain  of  repeated  acts 
of  injustice  and  Cruely  committed  again  me,  and  which  in 
some  respects  Might  Justly  undergo  the  imputation  of 
ferocity  there  are  numbers  and  frivolous  and  false  charges 
conspired  against  me  and  every  time  i  am  discharged  from 
here  the  Governor  takes  them  Seperate  one  each  and  trys 
to  murder  me:  i  have  been  No  less  then  Six  weeks  at  one 
time  on  bread  and  Water  accompanied  with  a  little  penal 
Class  and  all  the  officers  are  incouraged  to  practise  all  kinds 
of  barbarious  maltreatment  against  me  and  other  sick  men — 
theres  is  one  officer  here  place  here  for  the  express  purpose 
of  tantelizing  me  and  other  his  Name  is  Warder  Newcombe 
this  officer  sir  has  barbariously  struck  and  assaulted  pa- 
tients  on  there  Sick  bed  and  Several  has  complained  of  it 
to  the  Governor — But  i  am  Sorry  to  say  its  greatly  fostered 
and  incouraged  especially  upon  me  it  is  quite  useless  to 
complain  of  anything  to  the  Governor 


476  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Right  Honourable  Sir  i  humbly  beg  that  you  will  listen  to 

my  woe 
for  what  i  Suffer  in  Chatham  prison  the  one  half  you  do  not 

Know 
From  repeated  attacks  of  this  frightful  disease  i  am  getting 

worse  each  day 
So  i  humbly  trust  you  will  have  me  removed  without  the 

least  delay 

In  making  my  request  in  poetry  Sir  i  hope  you  wont  think 

i  am  Joking 
for  the  greatest  favour  you  can  bestowe  upon  me  is  to  Send 

me  back  to  Woking 
For  in  this  damp  and  foggy  Climate  its  impossible  to  ever 

get  better 
So  i  humbly  trust  in  addition  to  this  you  will  grant  me  a 

Special  letter 

Another  little  case  i  wish  to  State  if  you  Sir  will  Kindly 

listen 
has  it  would  Cause  a  Vast  amount  of  talk  all  round  and 

about  the  prison 
I  mean  if  Niblo  Clark  Should  be  sent  upon  some  public 

Works 
it  would  cause  more  talk  then  the  late  dispute  between  the 

russians  and  the  turks 

in  foggy  wheather  with  my  disease  it  would  be  impossible 

to  larst  one  hour 
and  if  you  doubt  the  accuracy  of  what  i  say  i  refere  to 

doctor  Power 
or  any  other  naval  doctor  or  one  from  the  army  garrison 
they  one  and  all  would  say  the  Same  and  likewise  Doctor 

Harrison 

Since  my  reception  in  this  here  prison  i  have  been  a  most 
unfortunate  man 

and  i  will  tell  you  the  why  and  wherefore  as  well  as  i  possi- 
bly Can 

for  every  time  i  been  in  this  hospital  its  the  whole  trutt-i 
what  i  Say 

for  my  medical  treatment  i  assure  Sir  i  have  dearly  had  to 
pay 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAY.  477 

A  regular  marked  man  i  have  been  for  them  all  its  well 

known  to  Captain  Harris 
for  the  list  of  reports  against  me  would  reach  from  this  place 

to  paris 
So  i  humbly  beg  Right  Honourable  Sir  you  will  grant  this 

humble  petition 
for  i  am  sorry  to  State  i  have  nothing  to  pay  having  lost 

both  health  and  remission 

Such  Cruel  injustice  to  poor  Sick  men  is  far  from  being  just 

and  right 
but  to  report  Sick  patients  in  hospital  is  the  officers  Chief 

delight 
But  perhaps  kind.  Sir  you  might  imagine  that  they  only  do 

this  to  a  dodger 
But  its  done  to  all — Austin  Bidwell  as  well  and  likewise 

to  poor  Sir  Roger  (Tichborne). 

like  Savage  lions  in  this  infirmary  the  Oflficers  about  are 

walking 
to  Catch  and  report  a  dying  poor  man  for  the  frivolous 

Charge  of  talking 
and  when  we  go  out  from  hospital  our  poor  bodies  they 

try  to  Slaughter 
by  taking  these  reports  one  at  the  time  and  Killing  us  on 

bread  and  water 

I  am  suflfering  a  Chest  and  throat  disease  a  frightful  Chronic 

disorder 
and  to  go  out  from  hospital  is  attempting  Suicide  to  get 

heaps  of  bread  and  Water 
for  it  is  such  cruel  treatment  made  me  as  i  am  and  brought 

me  to  the  Verge  of  the  grave 
So  in  conclusion  Right  Honourable^  Sir  a  removal  i  humbly 

Crave 

if  this  petition  should  not  he  sent  prisoners  abstain  from 
further  writting  who  will  explain  his  case  more  Clearly  to 
the  Visiting  director  and  i  wish  to  have  this  petition  Sub- 
mitted to  the  director  by  your  truly  humble  servant  Niblo 
Clark 


CHAPTER  L. 

IT  WAS   NIGHT;    SILENCE    AND    GLOOM    HAD    SETTLED 
DOWN  ON  THE  INMATES. 

By  a  refinement  of  cruelty  we  had  been  separated  and 
sent  to  prison  wide  apart;  for  twenty  years  I  had  not  seen 
the  face  of  one  of  my  friends.  But  there  was  an  invisible 
bond  between  us  that  no  tyranny  could  break.  How  blessed 
the  happy  forethought  that  made  us,  in  that  dark  hour,  amid 
our  despair,  make  that  promise! 

Ten  years  had  slowly  dragged  by,  1883  came,  and  my 
devoted  family  felt  that  I,  and  my  comrades,  too,  had  paid, 
as  was  right,  our  due  to  justice,  and  we  ought  to  be  liberated. 
They  determined  that  it  would  not  be  their  fault  if  I  re- 
mained in  captivity.  So  that  year  my  sister  came  to  England 
and  remained  permanently  there.  She  worked  bravely  and 
well,  but  year  after  year  passed  without  result.  None  of  us 
was  prepared  for  the  vindictive  fury  of  the  Bank  of  England 
— its  power  was  all-potent  with  the  Government.  George 
had  been  bedridden  for  years,  and  was  slowly  dying.  At 
length,  in  1887,  the  medical  officer  of  the  prison  certified 
his  speedy  death  was  certain,  and  the  Government  released 
him  to  die;  but  he  resolved  that  he  would  not  die  until  we 
were  free.  With  liberty  and  hope  health  came  slowly  back, 
and  he  devoted  every  hour  to  working  for  our  liberation; 
but  for  a  time  devoted  in  vain.  More  than  once  had  I  seen 
the  prison  emptied  and  filled  again.  Of  all  the  life  prisoners 
I  had  met  there  on  my  arrival,  or  who  for  years  after  had 
joined  me,  I  was  the  sole  survivor. 
(478) 


FROM  WALL.  STREET  TO  NEWGATE.  479 

One  by  one  sickness  or  insanity,  born  of  despair,  had 
laid  them  in  the  prison  graveyard  or  buried  them  in  the 
asylum.  Out  of  more  than  seventy  Hfe  prisoners  none  had 
lived  to  be  liberated,  and  determined  appeared  the  Bank  of 
England  directors  that  I  should  not  form  an  exception ;  but 
that  if  ever  the  prison  doors  were  opened  to  me  it  should  be 
only  when  so  near  death  that  I  might  join  the  many  who 
had  gone  before. 

My  fate  seemed  inevitable,  but  never  for  a  moment  did  I 
cease  to  believe  that  Fortune's  frowns  would  one  day  dis- 
appear and  that  I  should  yet  again  feel  the  warmth  and 
sunshine  of  her  smile.  From  his  sick  bed,  and  in  his  health, 
our  comrade  never  ceased  his  efforts.  He  succeeded  in 
interesting  James  Russell  Lowell  and  many  others  in  my 
behalf.  The  President  asked  the  English  Government  offi- 
cially to  grant  my  release.  Mr.  Blaine,  the  Secretary  of 
State,  sent  a  very  strong  letter  through  Minister  Lincoln 
in  London,  and  I  thought  when  told  of  it  that  my  day  to 
go  was  not  far  away. 

It  will  interest  Americans,  perhaps,  to  hear  that  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  President  and  of  the  Secretary  of  State  of 
the  United  States  met  the  same  courtesy  as  was  shown  to 
all  the  previous  ones.  Still,  George  was  not  discouraged. 
He  sent  agents  to  England,  who  managed  to  interest  the 
newspapers  in  the  matter,  and  never  did  he  cease,  until  by 
the  statements  of  the  press  upon  the  ferocity  of  my  treat- 
ment, the  reproaches  of  my  friends  and  the  representations 
of  many  I  had  never  seen,  including  Lady  Henry  Somer- 
set, Mrs.  Helen  Densmore  (then  residing  in  London)  and  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  at  last  the  Home  Secretary  felt  the 
pressure,  and  all  unwillingly — "much  against  his  will,"  as 
he  termed  it — was  forced  to  order  my  release, 

******* 

"Thou  shalt  forget  thy  misery  and  remember  it  as  waters 
that  pass  away." 


480  FROM  WALL  STREET  TO  NEWGATE 

Twenty  y^ars  had  passed  away  since  I  had  bade  my 
friends  good-bye  under  the  Old  Bailey,  and  now  1893  had 
come.  It  was  a  frosty  February  night,  and  I  was  alone  in 
that  little  room  with  its  arched  roof  and  stone  floor.  It  was 
past  7  o'clock,  and  the  prison  gloom  and  stillness  had  set- 
tled down  on  all  the  inmates,  when  suddenly  there  came  the 
noise  of  hurrying  feet  that  echoed  strangely  from  the  arched 
roof  as  the  warders  tramped  loudly  on  the  stone  floor  of  the 
long  hall.  A  rush  of  feet,  or,  indeed,  anything  that  broke 
the  horrible  stillness  at  that  hour,  was  startling.  Tliey  were 
the  feet  of  the  reserve  guard,  which  was  never  called  in  save 
when  the  patrol  who  glided  around  the  corridors  in  slippered 
feet  discovered  some  suicide.  Many  a  heartbroken  man 
had  I  known  in  that  twenty  years  who  in  his  despair  ended 
his  misery  thus. 

While  wondering  who  the  unfortunate  could  be  I  heard 
their  steps  mounting  the  stairway  leading  to  my  landing, 
and  then  a  sudden  thrill  shot  through  me  as  they  turned 
down  the  corridor  toward  my  cell.  My  heart  stood  still  as  I 
thought,  could  they  be  coming  for  me?  I  had  a  sudden 
frenzy  of  fear  that  they  might  pass  my  door,  but  no,  they 
came  straight  on,  halted,  and  Ross,  a  principal  officer — I 
had  known  him  twenty  years — gave  a  thundering  rap  on  my 
door  and  shouted,  "I  want  you!"  Then  ai  key  rattled  in  the 
lock,  the  door  was  thro\vn  open  and  three  friendly  faces 
looked  in.  Faint,  deadly  white,  trembling  like  a  frightened 
child,  I  started  to  my  feet  trying  to  speak,  but  no  sound 
came  from  my  lips  for  a  moment.  At  last  I  stammered, 
"What's  the  matter?"  Ross  thrust  his  form  through  the 
door,  and  with  face  close  to  mine  said  the  thrilling  words, 
"You're  free!"  I  cried,  "I  don't  believe  you!"  and  Ross  said: 
"Come  on,  my  boy;  it's  all  right. 

Like  one  in  a  dream  I  passed  out  through  the  door  of  that 
little  cell  whose  grim,  narrow;  walls  had  frowned  on  me  for 
a  score  of  years  and  had  in  vain  tried  to  crush  my  spirit 


VIA  THE  PRIMROSE  WAT. 


481 


Still  like  one  in  a  dream  I  went  down  that  long  hall  listen- 
ing only  to  the  strange  sound  of  my  own  footsteps  and 
saying  to  myself:  "It  is  all  a  dream.  I  will  awake,  as  I 
have  from  thousands  of  like  dreams,  and  find  myself  again 
in  my  dungeon." 

I  was  led  into  the  outer  office,  where  some  papers  were 
read  to  me,  and  then  others  given  me  to  sign,  but  P  listened 
or  signed  like  one  in  a  maze.  Suddenly  I  saw  Ross  thrust 
the  key  into  the  outer  door.  That  roused  me,  and  the 
thought  flashed  into  my  mind,  now  I  will  see  a  star. 

The  heavy  door  rolled  on  its  hinges,  the  ponderous  gate 
was  flung  back.  Stepping  out,  I  intuitively  looked  up,  and 
a  sudden  awe  fell  upon  me,  for  there,  like  a  revelation,  shone 
the  Milky  Way,  with  its  millioned  arch  of  radiant  suns.  At 
the  sight  of  that  miracle  of  glory,  my  heart  beat  fast  I 
realized  that  I  was  free,  with  health  and  strength,  with  cour- 
age to  begin  again  the  battle  of  life,  and  in  my  irrepressible 
emotion  I  cried  aloud,  and  my  cry  was  like  a  prayer — "Grod 
is  good." 


148 


A  FIVE-FOUND  NOTE. 


REVIEW  OF  THE  BIDWELL  BOOK. 

BY   MRS.    L.    S.    W. 

This  volume  abounds  in  thrilling  incidents,  illustrative  of  the  truth 
that  "whosoever  soweth  the  wind  shall  reap  the  whirlwind,"  being  a 
sermon  in  itself, —  for  what  business  man  or  youth,  after  reading  its 
pages,  would  dare  to  risk  the  clutches  of  the  law. 

Every  mother  would  feel  safer,  and  every  home  would  be  safer, 
with  a  copy  of  this  volume  as  a  safegfuard  and  pleader  in  the  cause 
of  right  and  honesty. 

This  is  a  marvelous  story, —  one  whose  scenes  in  their  dramatic 
force  surpass  in  many  respects  the  most  exciting  description  of  the 
great  masters  of  riction,  proving  the  imagination  of  the  novelist 
is  bounded  and  that  truth  is  often  stranger  than  fiction. 

The  actual  events  of  his  life,  from  the  time  he  started  out  in  an  ac- 
tive business  career  to  his  liberation,  while  making  the  book  intensely 
interesting-^  to  all  ages,  of  both  sexes,  has  made  its  influence  felt  for 
good  ovt!-  young  business  men,  showing  the  Fatality  of  the  First 
Step  into  wrongdoing,  and  it  will  continue  to  prove  as  powerful  as 
salutary. 

The  value  of  the  book  consists  in  the  fact  that  it  is  a  vivid  picture 
of  a  strong  man  stumbling  in  the  Battle  of  Life,  and  after  going 
through  unparalleled  suflferings  such  as  few  men  have  endured  and 
survived,  emerging  a'ter  fifteen  years  in  prison,  again  ready  with  the 
fire  and  enthusiasm  ot  youth,  determined  to  retrieve  and  to  struggle 
for  a  future  that  should  bury  the  past  beyond  resurrection. 

The  first  chapters  give  the  dramatic  circumstances  of  his  life  from 
the  time  he  started  out  from  a  Puritan  home  to  engage  in  business 
in  New  York,  and  leading  up  to  the  g^eat  One  Million  Pound  Forgery 
and  the  story  of  how  the  great  Bank  of  England  threw  out  its  Bags 
of  Gold  day  by  day  to  strangers,  is  one  of  absorbing  interest. 

This  was  followed  by  the  discovery  of  the  fraud,  by  one  of  those 
unforseen  accidents  that  ever  arise  to  block  the  way  to  success  in 
every  criminal  operation,  enabling  justice  to  overtake  crime. 

One  of  the  party,  after  an  exciting  chase  through  France  and 
Spain,  escaped  to  Cuba,  and,  after  many  adventures  in  jungle  and 
mountain,  was  arrested  and  brought  back,  but  only  after  a  long  diplo- 
matic duel  between  Spain,  England  and  the  United  States. 

George  Bidwell  fled  to  Ireland,  a  large  reward  being  offered  for  his 
arrest,  and  a  large  force  of  Bow  Street  officers  were  sent  over,  which, 
with  the  whole  constabulary  force  in  Ireland,  joined  in  the  hunt. 

Every  railway  station  and  seaport  being  guarded,  he  was  hunted 
from  Queenstown  in  the  South,  to  Belfast  m  the  North,  and  after  many 
as  dramatic  situations  as  ever  novelist  depicted,  he  escaped  into  Scot- 
land, where  a  month  later  he  was  arrested  in  Edinburgh. 

At  the  trial,  so  memorable  in  the  Criminal  Annals  of  England,  the 
Rothschilds,  Barrings,  and  many  of  the  great  bankers  of  Europe, 
appear  on  the  scene,  as  actors  in  this  portentous  drama. 

The  first  thirty-four  chapters,  a  sequence  of  human  life,  lead  up  to 
the  catastrophe  of  p)enal  servitude  for  life,  the  most  severe  in  modern 
times  for  an  offence  against  property. 

The  last  sixteen  chapters  are  the  most  graphic  and  interesting  that 
has  ever  been  published  on  English  Prison  Life,  including  as  they  do 
accounts  of  the  extraordinary  characters  he  met  there. 

This  book  is  one  that  every  mother  will  want  her  son  to  read. 


536  MESSAGE  TO  YOUNG-  MEN. 

The  effect  of  a  bad  act,  as  of  a  good,  reaches  and  mfluences 
all  ages  to  come.  Generations  yet  to  fill  the  earth  in  a  dim 
and  misty  future  will  be  worthy  or  unworthy  according  as  we 
transmit  to  our  immediate  descendants  influences  good  or 
evil. 

There  are  thousands  of  men  now  doing  their  utmost  to 
corrupt  the  youth  of  the  land,  leaving,  like  Frank  Kibbe,  a 
serpent's  trail. 

Having  made  a  study  of  all  paths  which  lead  to  the  seduc- 
tion and  destruction  of  young  men;  having  full  knowledge 
of  the  arts,  blandishments,  devices;  having  learned  the  lesson 
from  the  beginmng,  witnessed  its  consummation,  embrace 
ruin  and  death — I  cannot  resist  the  desire  to  warn  young  men 
to  beware  of  temptations  in  whatever  guise  these  may  pre- 
sent themselves. 

Youth  is  unpractical,  fond  of  excitement,  more  than  gener- 
ous— in  truth,  a  universal  philanthropist.  Youth  must  avoid 
the  fast  young  man — he  is  kaleidoscopic,  but  is  as  old  as 
Adam  and  able  to  raise  Cain.  He  will  degrade  you  and 
reduce  you  to  his  own.  moral  level. 

My  young  friend,  just  starting  out  in  business  life,  perhaps 
you  are  convinced  by  the  actions  of  those  around  you  that 
the  attainment  of  wealth  will  place  you  on  the  pinnacle  of 
happiness.  This  feeling  will  make  you  ambitious  for  show 
as  a  means  of  getting  ahead ;  extravagant,  and  you  will  soon 
find  yourself  straitened  for  means  to  keep  up  the  style  of 
your  richer  companions.  A  gulf  is  opened,  an  appalling  gulf, 
which  you  see  not,  yet  the  glitter  and  tinsel  surroundings, 
gayeties,  bad  female  associations,  even  occasional  mortifica- 
tions, all  combine,  and  into  the  gulf  you  plunge. 

Then  follows  the  first  step — fancy  it  if  you  can — I  can :  Bor- 
rowing from  employer,  not  by  asking,  but  by  taking  from 
the  cash;  the  futile  resolutions  to  restore;  the  fictitious  en- 
tries in  the  cash  book;  the  false  oaths  attached  to  balance 
sheets;  the  profuse  expenditure;  then  the  forgery — and  you 


MESSAGE   TO  YOUNG  MEN.  537 

see  the  fate  of  thousands  of  promising  young  men  with  whom 
I  have  seen  prisons  filled.  Discovery,  disgrace,  both  of  self 
and  family,  then  suicide  or  a  prison. 

My  picture  is  not  overdrawn.  It  is  the  daily,  yea,  the 
hourly,  record,  a  record  of  polluted  minds  and  whirling 
brains,  of  shattered  health  and  early  death. 

One  young  man  of  twenty-seven,  who  occupied  a  prom- 
inent position  in  a  Connecticut  savings  bank,  defaulted,  and 
fled  to  Canada.  There,  his  money,  dishonestly  obtained,  did 
not  as  he  had  fondly  hoped,  contribute  to  happiness,  and 
one  day  he  killed  himself  in  Montreal,  leaving  behind  the 
following  note :  "My  prospects  were  such  that  many  a  young 
man  might  envy.  I  scarcely  know  how  I  have  gone  wrong." 
This  is  the  feeling  in  all  like  cases.  The  temptations  come  in 
such  plausible  guise,  that  before  the  victim  is  aware  he  has 
entered  the  path  from  which  he  escapes  only  by  a  miracle. 
"I  have  been  chief  sufTerer,  and  also  chief  mourner.  I  am  tired 
of  life.  If  my  body  is  found,  I  want  a  private  funeral.  I  don't 
want  anybody  to  mourn  for  me.  If  I  could  retrieve  myself  I 
would  do  it,  but  I  see  no  chance  for  it." 

Those  who  read  this  book  will  perceive  that  the  night  after 
receiving  a  life  sentence  I  gave  way  to  the  same  feelings  of 
despair  which  caused  this  young  man  to  end  his  life,  ajnd  put 
himself  beyond  the  possibility  of  retrieving  past  error*. 

That  past,  with  all  its  terrible  experiences,  I  put  before  the 
world  as  a  flaming  light  to  warn  young  business  men,  such  as 
I  was,  to  beware  of  the  first  deviation  toward  the  path  which 
ends  within  the  prison's  iron  gates,  or,  if  they  escape  that,  it 
will  surely  bring  them  to  degradation  and  miser>'. 

Since  emerging  from  the  living  grave,  where  I  was  buried 
half  a  generation,  in  going  about  our  cities  1  see  thousands 
en  route  toward  a  future  which  my  experience  enables  me 
to  predict — ^the  workhouse,  the  jail,  the  felon's  cell,  the  con- 
vict's, drunkard's  or  the  pauper's  grave. 


538  MES.7AGr:  TO  YOUNG  MEN. 

Do  you  wish  to  be  known  as  a  "good  fellow"  and  to  be- 
come a  "general  favorite?" 

I  have  known  many  who  succeeded  for  a  time  by  squan- 
dering their  salaries,  but  these  usually  end  in  the  poorhouse 
or  prison. 

O,  young  man!  if  you  cannot  answer  an  emphatic  "yes"  in 
questioning  every  act  of  your  life — "Is  this  right?  Should  I 
wish  another  to  act  toward  me?" — ^then  it  is  you  to 
whom  these  lines  are  addressed.  May  my  wrecked  life  lead  you 
to  pause  and  reflect.  Do  not  say  it  is  too  late.  Have  I  not 
proved  it  possible  to  found  an  honorable  future  on  the  ruins 
of  the  past?  Go  thou  and  do  likewise.  Though  the  outlook 
may  be  gloomy,  persevere  in  the  right,  and  success  will  be 
yours  at  last.     Never  despair. 

To  young  men  I  proclaim — watch  yourselves;  prove 
worthy  of  trust;  be  pure  minded;  act  with  wisdom;  be  true 
to  manhood;  true  to  your  heritage;  faithful  to  honor  and 
your  country;  thoroughly  honest  in  every  fibre  of  your  being, 
and  you  will  attain  the  true  aim  of  life — happiness. 


A  LAST  WORD. 

For  the  benefit  of  any  careless  reader  who  may  fail  to  observe 
the  warnings  in  my  book,  and  who  may  fancy  that  he  can  make 
a  fortune,  or  the  beginning  of  one,  by  imitating  the  methods  de- 
scribed, I  wish  to  say: — 

1st.  Read  my  book  carefully  and  ponder  the  fate  of  men  as 
clever  as  yourself,  whose  names  appear  therein. 

2d.  If  you  still  fancy  you  can  commit  a  fraud  and  escape,-  it 
only  proves  that  you  have  not  the  sense  and  judgment  to  carry 
out  a  crime  successfully.  Therefore,  your  first  step  would  be  into 
the  hands  of  the  police. 

3.  The  merchandise-swindling  operations  have  become  so 
well  known  that  even  the  postmasters  and  freight  agents  would 
unfailingly  put  the  police  on  you  at  once.  Hundreds  of  men  in 
both  England  and  America  are  to-day  in  State  prisons  for  at- 
tempts of  the  kind. 

4th.  In  regard  to  letter  of  credit,  check,  and  other  frauds  on 
bankers,  operators  have  completely  played  out  that  game  and 
themselves.  They  and  others  used  as  tools,  have,  until  arrested  and 
imprisoned,  worked  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  until  now  the  few 
who  are  free  are  longing  for  an  opening  into  an  honest  business, 
recognizing  that  any  fraudulent  attempt  will  surely  land  them  in 
prison.  I  know  men  who  have  squandered  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars  who  have  for  months  past  been  put  to  great  straits  to 
obtain  food,  not  daring  to  try  on  the  old  games  which  you  pos- 
sibly fancy  you  could  execute  successfully. 

5th.  If  (after  reading  my  book  and  this  note)  you  still  cannot 
see  that  It  is  best  to  get  on  honestly — even  if  slowly — then  try  it 
on,  and  when  you  are  where  I  have  seen  so  many  thousands  of 
like  mind  with  yourself,  you  will  have  ample  time — as  they  and  I 
had — for  retrospections  and  refiections. 

If  any  young  man  will  be  advised,  let  him  not  squander  the 
leisure  time  of  his  young  manhood  about  the  bars  and  billiard 
rooms,  but  like  our  physically  magnificent  Teutonic  progenitors, 
consider  the  first  twenty-five  years  of  life  as  a  preparatory  period. 
Until  you  are  twenty-five  think  only  of  two  things— how  you  may 
improve  yourself  physically  and  mentally.  Then  you  will  be  ready 
to  take  advantage  of  opportunities  that  come  to  every  one  to  en- 
gage in  a  legitimate  life-work,  and  at  thirty-five  years  of  age  will 
be  far  ahead,  in  wealth  and  social  position,  of  those  who  think 
they  must  put  on  full  steam  at  eighteen  or  twenty,  and  think  only 
of  momentary  pleasures,  which  are  quite  right  in  their  proper 
place,  as  part  of  a  mental  and  physical  training. 


LAW  crrK^ 

ROSCaT  a  INOEHMLI. 
20  lUSSAU  STREET. 


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